Uses
White Portland cement is used in combination with white aggregates to produce white concrete for prestige construction projects and decorative work. White concrete usually takes the form of pre-cast cladding panels, since it is not economical to use white cement for structural purposes. White Portland cement is also used in combination with inorganic pigments to produce brightly colored concretes and mortars. Ordinary cement, when used with pigments, produces colors that may be attractive, but are somewhat dull. With white cement, bright reds, yellows and greens can be readily produced. Blue concrete can also be made, at some expense. The pigments may be added at the concrete mixer. Alternatively, to guarantee repeatable color, some manufacturers supply ready-blended colored cements, using white cement as a base. To be "white", the powdered material must have a reflectance value ("L value") in excess of 85%. A particular success in the use of WOPC and added pigments is monocouche renders.
In some countries an off-white clinker, which gives a reflectance value over 70 when ground, is produced at a cost only a little over normal gray clinker. When this is blended with ground blast furnace slag (up to 60% depending on use and early strength) a cement with reflectance over 80 can be produced. The blended cement can have a production cost less than General Purpose Portland cement (gray), but normally attracts a margin as it is sold to compete with white Portland cement.
Manufacture
The characteristic greenish-gray to brown color of ordinary Portland cement derives from a number of transition elements in its chemical composition. These are, in decreasing order of coloring effect, chromium, manganese, iron, copper, vanadium, nickel and titanium. The amount of these in white cement is minimized as far as possible. Cr2O3 is kept below 0.003%, Mn2O3 is kept below 0.03%, and Fe2O3 is kept below 0.35% in the clinker. The other elements are usually not a significant problem. Portland cement is usually made from cheap, quarried raw materials, and these usually contain substantial amounts of Cr, Mn and Fe. For example, limestones used in cement manufacture usually contain 0.3-1% Fe2O3, whereas levels below 0.1% are sought in limestones for white manufacture. Typical clays used in gray cement rawmix may contain 5-15% Fe2O3. Levels below 0.5% are desirable, and conventional clays are usually replaced with kaolin. Kaolin is fairly low in SiO2, and so a large amount of sand is usually also included in the mix. Iron and manganese usually occur together in nature, so that selection of low-iron materials usually ensures that manganese content is also low, but chromium can arise from other sources, notably from the wear of chrome steel grinding equipment during the production of rawmix. See rawmill. This wear is exacerbated by the high sand-content of the mix, which makes it extremely abrasive. Furthermore, to make a combinable rawmix, the sand must be ground to below 45 μm particle diameter. Often this is achieved by grinding the sand separately, using ceramic grinding media to limit the chromium contamination.
With off-white clinker the calculated Fe2O3 level in clinker is higher (0.6-0.8%) Coal can be used (if the ash has little Fe2O3 or other trace elements). The ash in the coal is helpful in the reaction because it is finer than the ground raw materials and it reaches higher temperatures and is molten in the flame. Kaolin is sometimes found in association with coal deposits. It may be possible to use coal washery waste, oil shale and spent oil shale ash. Off-white clinker has a calculated C3A (tricalcium aluminate) of 7-9%. When blended with ground granulated blast furnace slag it can meet requirements for sulfate resistance and low heat.
Kiln operation
In general, the rotary kilns used to chemically combine the raw materials are operated at a higher peak temperature (1600°C) than that required for gray clinker manufacture (1450°C). This requires a higher fuel consumption (typically 20-50% more), and results in lower kiln output (typically 20-50% less) for a given sized kiln. The reason for this is the relatively small amount of molten liquid produced during sintering, because of the low iron-content of the mix. The final reaction in the kiln, conversion of belite to alite, requires the melt liquid as a solvent, and is slower if the amount of melt is low. This can be partially compensated by adding to the rawmix a combination of calcium and fluoride in the form of calcium fluoride or waste cryolite. This combination lowers the melting temperature. In cases where the clinker Fe2O3 content is above 0.2% (which is almost always the case), the unique processes of "bleaching" and "quenching" are also employed. "Bleaching" involves directing a second flame (apart from that used to heat the kiln) onto the bed of clinker close to the kiln exit to reduce Fe(III) to Fe(II). This reduction is rigorously avoided in gray cement production, because of the deleterious effect it can have on clinker quality. But in white clinker production, where the iron content is low, this is not an issue. Subsequently, to prevent the re-oxidation of the iron, "quenching" is performed. This consists of rapidly lowering the clinker temperature from 1200°C to below 600°C in a few seconds, as it leaves the kiln. This usually involves dropping it into water and removing it quickly with a screw or passing it through a curtain of water sprays. This contributes to the relatively poor energy efficiency of the process, since the sensible heat of the clinker is not recycled as in normal clinker manufacturer.
The temperature in the kiln is not necessarily higher than gray clinker production but it appears higher due to the reflectance especially in gas fired kilns (which do have a higher flame temperature). With off-white clinker coal firing can be used which has many advantages for costs and output. It is important to finely grind the coal and have a burner which gives a very short bright flame (high velocity low primary air) so that the excess oxygen can be kept low close to zero with maybe 0.1% CO. There is no need for a second flame if combustion in the coal flame is rapid and controlled. The Off-white clinker has a light greenish colour due to Fe(II). Rotary kilns have limitations on output based on the surface area required for the heat transfer. Few old kiln process can reach the surface area limits due to limits in auxiliary equipment such as fuel input (e.g. lack of precalcination), grinding of coal and raw materials, exhaust fan capacity, chemical control of raw mix, burner quality, kiln control etc. With well operated off-white clinker production kiln output can be only a few percent lower than gray clinker production.
Clinker grinding and handling
The clinker is next ground to cement (perhaps after a drying stage). Here calcium sulfate is added to control set, in the form of a high-purity grade of gypsum or anhydrite. In some specifications (not ASTM), a small amount of titanium dioxide may be added to improve reflectance. At all stages, great care is needed to avoid contamination with colored materials.
Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that cures over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most widely used building material. Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminium combined.
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource.
Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of Fe
2O
3. It has the same crystal structure as corundum (Al
2O
3) and ilmenite (FeTiO
3). With this it forms a complete solid solution at temperatures above 950 °C (1,740 °F).
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th century by Joseph Aspdin, and is usually made from limestone. It is a fine powder, produced by heating limestone and clay minerals in a kiln to form clinker, grinding the clinker, and adding 2 to 3 percent of gypsum. Several types of portland cement are available. The most common, called ordinary portland cement (OPC), is grey, but white Portland cement is also available. Its name is derived from its resemblance to portland stone which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. It was named by Joseph Aspdin who obtained a patent for it in 1824. His son William Aspdin is regarded as the inventor of "modern" portland cement due to his developments in the 1840s. The term portland in this context refers to a material or process, not a proper noun like a place or a person, and should not be capitalized.
Case-hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal object while allowing the metal deeper underneath to remain soft, thus forming a thin layer of harder metal at the surface. For iron or steel with low carbon content, which has poor to no hardenability of its own, the case-hardening process involves infusing additional carbon or nitrogen into the surface layer. Case-hardening is usually done after the part has been formed into its final shape, but can also be done to increase the hardening element content of bars to be used in a pattern welding or similar process. The term face hardening is also used to describe this technique, when discussing modern armour.
Knife making is the process of manufacturing a knife by any one or a combination of processes: stock removal, forging to shape, welded lamination or investment cast. Typical metals used come from the carbon steel, tool, or stainless steel families. Primitive knives have been made from bronze, copper, brass, iron, obsidian, and flint.
Metakaolin is the anhydrous calcined form of the clay mineral kaolinite. Minerals that are rich in kaolinite are known as china clay or kaolin, traditionally used in the manufacture of porcelain. The particle size of metakaolin is smaller than cement particles, but not as fine as silica fume.
Ground granulated blast-furnace slag is obtained by quenching molten iron slag from a blast furnace in water or steam, to produce a glassy, granular product that is then dried and ground into a fine powder. Ground granulated blast furnace slag is a latent hydraulic binder forming calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) after contact with water. It is a strength-enhancing compound improving the durability of concrete. It is a component of metallurgic cement. Its main advantage is its slow release of hydration heat, allowing limitation of the temperature increase in massive concrete components and structures during cement setting and concrete curing, or to cast concrete during hot summer.
Cement kilns are used for the pyroprocessing stage of manufacture of portland and other types of hydraulic cement, in which calcium carbonate reacts with silica-bearing minerals to form a mixture of calcium silicates. Over a billion tonnes of cement are made per year, and cement kilns are the heart of this production process: their capacity usually defines the capacity of the cement plant. As the main energy-consuming and greenhouse-gas–emitting stage of cement manufacture, improvement of kiln efficiency has been the central concern of cement manufacturing technology. Emissions from cement kilns are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 2.5% of non-natural carbon emissions worldwide.
Alite is an impure form of tricalcium silicate, Ca3SiO5, sometimes formulated as 3CaO·SiO2, typically with 3-4% of substituent oxides. It is the major, and characteristic, phase in Portland cement. The name was given by Törnebohm in 1897 to a crystal identified in microscopic investigation of Portland cement. Hatrurite is the name of a mineral that is substituted C3S.
Cement clinker is a solid material produced in the manufacture of Portland cement as an intermediary product. Clinker occurs as lumps or nodules, usually 3 millimetres (0.12 in) to 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in diameter. It is produced by sintering limestone and aluminosilicate materials such as clay during the cement kiln stage.
Tricalcium aluminate Ca3Al2O6, often formulated as 3CaO·Al2O3 to highlight the proportions of the oxides from which it is made, is the most basic of the calcium aluminates. It does not occur in nature, but is an important mineral phase in Portland cement.
Calcium aluminate cements are cements consisting predominantly of hydraulic calcium aluminates. Alternative names are "aluminous cement", "high-alumina cement", and "Ciment fondu" in French. They are used in a number of small-scale, specialized applications.
Calcium aluminoferrite is a dark brown crystalline phase commonly found in cements. In the cement industry it is termed tetra-calcium aluminoferrite or ferrite. In cement chemist notation (CCN), it is abbreviated as C
4AF meaning 4CaO·Al
2O
3·Fe
2O
3 in the oxide notation. It also exists in nature as the rare mineral brownmillerite.
A cement mill is the equipment used to grind the hard, nodular clinker from the cement kiln into the fine grey powder that is cement. Most cement is currently ground in ball mills and also vertical roller mills which are more effective than ball mills.
This is a list of pottery and ceramic terms.
A raw mill is the equipment used to grind raw materials into "rawmix" during the manufacture of cement. Rawmix is then fed to a cement kiln, which transforms it into clinker, which is then ground to make cement in the cement mill. The raw milling stage of the process effectively defines the chemistry of the finished cement, and has a large effect upon the efficiency of the whole manufacturing process.
Eco-Cement is a brand-name for a type of cement which incorporates reactive magnesia, another hydraulic cement such as Portland cement, and optionally pozzolans and industrial by-products, to reduce the environmental impact relative to conventional cement. One problem with the commercialization of this cement, other than the conservatism of the building industry, is that the feedstock magnesite is rarely mined.
The cement industry in the United States produced 82.8 million tonnes of cement in 2015, worth US$9.8 billion, and was used to manufacture concrete worth about US$50 billion. The US was the world's third-largest producer of cement, after China and India. The US cement industry includes 99 cement mills in 34 states, plus two plants in Puerto Rico. The industry directly employed 10,000 workers in 2015. Ten percent of the cement used in the United States in 2015 was imported.
Ferrophosphorus is a ferroalloy, an alloy of iron and phosphorus. It contains high proportion of iron phosphides, Fe2P and Fe3P. Its CAS number is 8049-19-2. The usual grades contain either 18 or 25% of phosphorus. It is a gray solid material with melting point between 1050-1100 °C. It may liberate phosphine in contact with water. Very fine powder can be combustible.
