The application of natural zeolite to cement concrete intended for communications surfaces

Abstract

The article presents the application of a cement substitute in the form of natural zeolite to cement concrete. The reference mix design intended for communications surfaces and a mix of modified composition taking into consideration zeolite content were prepared. The basic parameters of concrete mix components were specified, including basalt aggregate, cement and zeolite. The influence of the applied zeolite of a grain-size distribution up to 50μm on the obtained parameters of concrete mix and hardened concrete was determined. It was observed that the applied zeolite contributes to the modification of the internal structure of concrete composite and consequently to the increase of the mechanical and physical parameters of hardened concrete tested within diversified standard periods of time. Due to the fact that the resistance of concrete to cyclic freezing and thawing is the determinant of concrete durability, in the case of pavement structure, hardened concretes were subject to a frost resistance assessment. The influence of zeolite content on both internal and external frost resistance of hardened concrete was specified. SEM observations of the internal structure of concretes exposed to the influence of freezingthawing cycles proved the advantageous changes of zeolite occurrence in concrete mix. A reduction of cement quantity and its replacement thereof with the suggested zeolite allows obtaining a pavement quality concrete of a more favourable internal micro structure and distinguished by higher parameters.

Influence of the fly ash fraction after grinding process on the hydrothermal synthesis efficiency of Na-A, Na-P1, Na-X and sodalite zeolite types

“…According to a whole set of attractive and useful cation exchange, catalytic, molecular sieves, sorption properties for many years, new applications and new directions of utilization have been sought for zeolites. Among the most important directions of the application, the following can be indicated as most interesting: as addition in asphalt production (Sengoz et al 2013;Topal et al 2014;Woszuk andFranus 2016, 2017;Woszuk 2018), civil engineering (Feng andPeng 2005;Tanijaya and Jardjito 2008;Markiv et al 2016;Linek et al 2018), in agriculture (Shi et al 2009;Ramesh and Reddy 2011;Eprikashvili et al 2016;Behzadfar et al 2017;Nakhli et al 2017), in detergent production (Van Dalen and Vooijs 2000;Sekhon and Sangha 2008;Fruijtier-Pölloth 2009;Ayele et al 2016), in medicine and pharmacy (among other as potential drug carriers) (Andronikashvili et al 2009;Pavelić and Hadzija 2010;Selvam et al 2014;Mohammadkhani et al 2016;Backova et al 2018;Kraljević Pavelić et al 2018;Krajišnik et al 2019), environmental protection andengineering (Maèala et al 2009;Wdowin et al 2014b;Burmańczuk et al 2015;Franus et al 2015;Ates and Akgül 2016;Czarna et al 2016), in cosmetology (Joughehdoust andManafi 2008), in food industry (Kuley et al 2012), in catalysis (Yilmaz and Müller 2009; Fig. 7 SEM micrographs of selected best synthesis of Na-A, N...…”