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Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances

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A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Crystalline Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 22276

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Prof. Dr. Shunbo Zhao

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International Joint Research Lab for Eco-building Materials and Engineering of Henan, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Huanyuan Campus, No.36 Beihuan Road, 450045 Zhengzhou, China
Interests: eco-building materials; fiber reinforced cementitious composites; high-performance concrete; self-compacting concrete

Prof. Dr. Juntao Ma

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering and Communications, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Huanyuan Campus, No.36 Beihuan Road, Zhengzhou 450045, China.
Interests: durability of concrete; high-performance concrete; eco-building materials; recycled concrete; reutilization of solid waste

Prof. Dr. Shan Li

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, No.8 Donghu South Road, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: bridge engineering; high performance composite materials; corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete structures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the development of urban construction and environmental protection, green building materials become attractive with features of resource recycling and energy conservation. In this respect, waste researches and applications have been done for the recycling of construction waste to produce recycled aggregates and cementious admixtures, the high value reuse of industry byproducts including fly ash, tailings and slags, the reuse of solide waste such as sludge from municipal sewage treatment plant. Meanwhile, aiming to promoting the structural quility and saving in labor, high-performance cementious composites including self-compacting concrete, high-durability concrete, super-high performance fiber-reinforced composites have been developed. In view of the strengthening of existing structures, the interface bonding properties between strengthening materials and existing surface have also been studied.

However, due to the complexty of influencing factors and objects in civil engineering, the above has continuously evolved in response to new requirements. The aim of this Special Issue is to publish current researches on the constituent, production and performance of green building materials. The chemical analytics and micro tests for the compostion and the correlation mechanism explores from microscopic to macroscopic for green building materials are especially welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Shunbo Zhao
Prof. Dr. Juntao Ma
Prof. Dr. Shan Li
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Fiber reinforced cementitious composites
Manufactured sand concrete
High value reuse of solid waste
High performance cementitious composites
Recycled aggregate concrete
Lightweight aggregate concrete
Self-compacting concrete
Ultra-high-performance concrete
Interfacial bonding of concrete/concrete, concrete/steel, FRP/concrete and FRP/steel
Geopolymer

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 5510 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rheological Properties of Cement Paste Containing Ground Fly Ash Based on Particle Morphology Analysis

by Juntao Ma, Huifang Zhang, Daguang Wang, Huixian Wang and Gonglian Chen

Crystals 2022, 12(4), 524; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst12040524 - 09 Apr 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1745

Abstract

Separating finer particles from raw fly ash is a popular method to produce high-performance admixture of concrete. However, the supply of separated fly ash is obviously behind the demand and the residue fly ash is difficult to be disposed. Ground fly ash is another method to improve the particle size and reactivity, but the change of particle morphology during grinding may affect the rheological properties of cement paste and concrete, which limits the application of ground fly ash in concrete projects. In this study, the raw fly ash, separated fly ash, and ground fly ash of the same particle size range were studied and the particle morphology was analyzed by Image-Pro Plus process and spherical particles proportion calculation. On this basis, the fluidity and rheological properties of cement paste with different fly ash content were tested and the mechanism was discussed by packing density and zeta potential analysis. The results showed that the total amount of spherical particles in fly ash-cement paste system was reduced due to the spherical particles of ground fly ash being destroyed during the grinding process. Thus, compared with the separated fly ash of similar particle size range, the fluidity of ground fly ash was significantly decreased while the yield stress and plastic viscosity increased significantly, which indicated that the rheological properties of fly ash cement paste are closely related to the particle morphology of fly ash. The results provide theoretical basis and technology support to the application of ground fly ash. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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10 pages, 3273 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Humidity Sensitivity of Hydration of Expansive Agent and Its Expansive Efficiency in Ultra-High Performance Concrete

by Yujiang Wang, Qian Tian, Hua Li and Yang Wang

Crystals 2022, 12(2), 195; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst12020195 - 28 Jan 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1955

Abstract

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has a potential cracking risk due to its large autogenous shrinkage. The use of an expansive agent is an effective approach to reduce autogenous shrinkage of UHPC. However, different kinds of expansive agents show different expansive efficiency in UHPC. To study the cause for the difference in expansive efficiency, this study selected three expansive agents, namely highly reactive MgO-based, medium reactive MgO-based, and CaO-based expansive agents, and carried out the following experiments: autogenous shrinkage, hydration heat, hydration process of expansive agent under different relative humidity (RH), and micrographs. The results showed that the CaO-based expansive agent has high hydration activity at RH of more than 44.0%, while the hydration activity of two kinds of MgO-based expansive agents, especially a medium reactive MgO-based expansive agent, decreases significantly when RH drops below 80%. Meanwhile, the CaO-based expansive agent had higher expansive efficiency in UHPC than the MgO-based expansive agent. This study suggested that the CaO-based expansive agent is more suitable for compensating autogenous shrinkage of UHPC due to its low humidity sensitivity compared to the MgO-based expansive agent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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15 pages, 1966 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Sodium Hydroxide, Liquid Sodium Silicate, Calcium Hydroxide, and Slag on the Mechanical Properties and Mineral Crystal Structure Evolution of Polymer Materials

by Guodong Huang, Yaqian Li, Yuting Zhang, Jielei Zhu, Dawei Li and Bo Wang

Crystals 2021, 11(12), 1586; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11121586 - 20 Dec 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2614

Abstract

To study the key factors that affect the mechanical properties of polymer materials and explore the relationship between mineral crystal formation and strength development, fly ash (FA) polymer samples were prepared using sodium hydroxide, slag, liquid sodium silicate, and hydrated lime as activators. A change in the compressive strength was observed, and X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out to confirm the change. The effects of different types and amounts of activators on the formation and transformation of mineral crystals in FA polymer samples as well as on the development of compressive strength were studied. Moreover, the relationship between the formation and transformation of mineral crystals and the development of compressive strength was established. The results show that the strongly alkaline excitation environment established by sodium hydroxide is the prerequisite for crystal formation and development of compressive strength. Under this strongly alkaline excitation environment, slag, hydrated lime, and liquid sodium silicate can increase the amounts of calcium and silicon, which promote the formation and development of hydrated calcium silicate and hydrated calcium silicoaluminate in polymers and significantly improve the compressive strength. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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20 pages, 8092 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Textile-Reinforced Concrete Versus Steel-Reinforced Concrete in Flexural Performance of Full-Scale Concrete Beams

by Fahed Alrshoudi

Crystals 2021, 11(11), 1272; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11111272 - 20 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1791

Abstract

The effectiveness of textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) and steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) in the flexural performance of rectangular concrete beams was investigated in this study. To better understand TRC behaviour, large-scale concrete beams of 120 × 200 × 2600 mm were tested and analysed in this work. Cover thickness, anchoring, and various layouts were all taken into consideration to assess the performance of beams. In addition, bi-axial and uni-axial TRC beams and SRC beams were classified according to the sort and arrangement of reinforcements. The findings showed that anchoring the textiles at both ends enhanced load resistance and prevented sliding. The ultimate load of the tow type of textile reinforcement was higher, attributed to the increased bond. Variations in cover thickness also change the ultimate load and deflection, according to the findings. Consequently, in this investigation, the ideal cover thickness was determined to be 30 mm. Furthermore, for the similar area of reinforcements, the ultimate load of TRC beams was noted up to 56% higher than that of the SRC control beam, while the deflection was roughly 37% lower. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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9 pages, 1696 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Red Mud on Sintering Processes and Minerals of Portland Cement for Roads

by Xiao Wang, Ke Sun, Xin Li, Juntao Ma and Zhongtao Luo

Crystals 2021, 11(10), 1267; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11101267 - 19 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1766

Abstract

As a solid waste generated in the alumina industry, red mud poses a significant environmental hazard and a storage problem. In this study, red mud was added to road cement clinker in order to utilize it. The sintering red mud was first de-alkalized, and then mixed with fly ash, clay, limestone, and sandstone, among other materials, to make Portland cement for road clinker. The effect of the addition of red mud on the thermal decomposition characteristics of Portland cement for roads was studied. The existent states of alkali and radioactive elements in Portland cement for road clinker were investigated by XRD and SEM analysis. The research results showed that the addition of red mud in Portland cement for road raw material significantly promoted the decomposition of carbonates in raw material. The major mineral phases of Portland cement for road clinker were C₃S with a polyhedral morphology, quasi-spherical C₂S, and tubular C₄AF. A small part of the alkali combined with the silicate phase to form a solid solution, and most of the alkali combined with S to form vermiform sulfate in the intermediate phase. The radionuclide ²²⁶Ra was mainly distributed in the silicate phase. ²³²Th was mainly distributed in interstitial phases and then silicate phases, while ⁴⁰K was mainly distributed in the interstitial phases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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20 pages, 17397 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flexural Performance of Small-Scale Textile-Reinforced Concrete Beams

by Fahed Alrshoudi

Crystals 2021, 11(10), 1178; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11101178 - 28 Sep 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1679

Abstract

Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) as a novel high-performance composite material can be used as a strengthening material and component bearing load alone. The flexural performance of TRC beams strengthened with textile reinforcement such as carbon tows was experimentally examined and associated with those of steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) beams. Through four-point bending tests, this research explores the effects of textile layers and dosages of short textile fibre on the flexural strength of concrete beams. A total of 64 prism samples of size 100 mm × 100 mm × 500 mm were made, flexure-strengthened, and tested to evaluate various characteristics and the efficiency of TRC versus SRC beams. TRC beams performed exceptionally well as supporting material in enhancing concrete’s flexural capacity; in addition, TRC’s average ultimate load effectiveness was up to 56% than that of SRC specimens. Furthermore, the maximum deflection was about 37% lesser than SRC beams. The results showed that by increasing the number of layers, the TRC’s effectiveness was significantly increased, and the failure mode became more ductile. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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11 pages, 1208 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reuse of Sintered Sludge from Municipal Sewage Treatment Plants for the Production of Lightweight Aggregate Building Mortar

by Changyong Li, Xiaoyan Zhang, Bingxin Zhang, Yunfei Tan and Fenglan Li

Crystals 2021, 11(8), 999; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11080999 - 22 Aug 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1619

Abstract

In recent years, the sludge produced by municipal sewage treatment plants has become an important recyclable resource for producing green building materials. After the systematic processing of incineration and particle formation, the sintered sludge can be processed into fine lightweight aggregate to produce building mortar with the controlled leaching of heavy metals and radioactivity. In this paper, to increase its economic and environmental benefits, mortar with sintered sludge aggregate was made by cement admixing of fly ash or limestone powder. The water-to-binder ratio was set at three levels—0.82, 0.68, and 0.62—and either flay ash or limestone powder was used to replace equal masses of cement at 10%, 20%, or 30%. Eighteen groups of mortar were studied to evaluate their workability, air content, compressive strength, tensile adhesive strength, dry density, and thermal conductivity. The results indicate that with a proper water-to-binder ratio, and the replacement ratio of fly ash or limestone powder, the mortar can be produced with good workability, consistency, water-retention rate, layering degree, and setting time. The mortar made with sintered sludge lightweight aggregate, designated by the mix-proportion method for conventional lightweight aggregate mortar, did not meet the target strength, although the compressive strength of mortar was no less than 3.0 MPa, which meets the strength grade M2.5. The tensile adhesive strength reached 0.18 MPa. The mortar was super lightweight with a dry density less than 400 kg/m³, and a thermal conductivity within 0.30~0.32 W/(m⋅K). The effects of water-to-binder ratio and replacement ratio of fly ash or limestone powder on the above properties are discussed with test results. The study provides a basis for using sintered sludge lightweight aggregate for building mortar. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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21 pages, 8323 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experiment Study and Finite Element Analysis of the Coupling Effect of Steel Fiber Length and Coarse Aggregate Maximum Size on the Fracture Properties of Concrete

by Juhong Han, Dingcheng Huang, Jingyu Chen and Xiaofang Lan

Crystals 2021, 11(8), 850; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11080850 - 22 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1699

Abstract

The effects of steel fiber length (l_f = 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm and 60 mm) and coarse aggregate maximum size (D_max = 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm) on fractural properties of steel fiber [...] Read more.

The effects of steel fiber length (l_f = 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm and 60 mm) and coarse aggregate maximum size (D_max = 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm) on fractural properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) was investigated. The results show that the fracture energy (G_f) of SFRC reaches its maximum when D_max increases to 30 mm, and it increases first and then decreases as lf increases, but it still has a significant increase compared to the control concrete. The G_f ratio increases first and then decreases as the l_f/D_max increases. The G_f of the SFRC fracture surface follows the same trend as the fractal dimension. The rational range of the l_f/D_max is 2.5–4 for the considerable strengthening effect of steel fiber on fracture performances of concrete with the D_max of 10 mm and 20 mm and 1.5–2.33 for that concrete with the D_max of 30 mm and 40 mm. The finite element analysis results are compared with the experimental results, and the results show that the fracture process of the finite element model is consistent with the experiment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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13 pages, 5357 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Internal Defects and Fiber Distribution of BFRC Based on the Digital Image Processing Technology

by Fengbin Chen, Bin Xu, Huazhe Jiao, Zhuen Ruan, Juanhong Liu, Xinming Chen, Liuhua Yang and Zhen Li

Crystals 2021, 11(8), 847; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11080847 - 22 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1676

Abstract

Adding basalt fiber into concrete can significantly improve its mechanical properties. In order to explore the influence of basalt fiber content on the uniaxial compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of concrete and the mechanism of fiber action, this paper conducts compressive and splitting tensile tests on three kinds of basalt fiber concrete specimens with different fiber content and obtains the relationship between the macro mechanical properties and the fiber content. At the same time, with the help of CT scanning equipment and digital image processing technology, the microstructure of basalt fiber concrete with three groups of fiber content is reconstructed, and the pore, crack, and fiber distribution are quantitatively described using the calculation and processing function of the Avizo reconstruction software. The results show that when the optimal fiber content is 3 kg/m³, the improvement rates of uniaxial compressive strength and splitting tensile strength are 31.9% and 23.7%, respectively. The network structure formed by fiber in concrete has the best compactness and the least number of pores, with an average sphericity of 0.89 and an average pore volume of 20.26 μm³. Through analysis, it was found that the initial defects of basalt fiber concrete exist in the form of pores, and the addition of basalt fiber will destroy the large pore size of concrete, change the pore size distribution, and increase the average sphericity; The distribution of the fiber in the concrete is a three-dimensional network, and the distribution of the fiber in the initial defect distribution area is parallel to the direction of pore arrangement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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13 pages, 4705 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preparation of Aligned Steel-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using a Magnetic Field Created by the Assembly of Magnetic Pieces

by Ru Mu, Ruixin Dong, Haoqi Liu, Haoyu Chen, Qingao Cheng and Chunhao Fan

Crystals 2021, 11(7), 837; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11070837 - 20 Jul 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2342

Abstract

In steel-fiber-reinforced composites, when the direction of a steel fiber is parallel to the direction of tensile stress, the capacity of the strengthening and toughening effect of the steel fiber can be fully applied to the composites. In this paper, a method to control the direction of steel fibers from one side surface of the mold full of a fresh mixture of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete using a magnet composed of small magnet squares is proposed, which has the advantage that the approach is suitable for specimens or elements with any size or shape. The influence of the method on the orientation effect of steel fiber is explored, and the flexural properties of the specimens prepared by different orientation methods are compared and analyzed through a three-point bending test. The test results show that the steel fibers in the mixture are successfully aligned by the magnetic treatment and the fiber orientation effective coefficient reaches 0.9 or more. The flexural properties of the aligned steel-fiber-reinforced cementitious composite (ASFRC) prepared by the magnetic device is significantly improved. The test results also show that the properties of the ASFRC prepared by the new method are comparable with that prepared by the previous electromagnetic field in terms of the fiber orientation effective coefficient and flexural strength. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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9 pages, 11990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Water Reducing Agents on Early Hydration Property of Ferrite Aluminate Cement Paste

by Chunlong Huang, Zirui Cheng, Jihui Zhao, Yiren Wang and Jie Pang

Crystals 2021, 11(7), 731; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst11070731 - 24 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1631

Abstract

The ferrite aluminate cement (FAC) could rapidly lose fluidity or workability due to its excessive hydration rate, and greatly reduce the construction performance. Chemical admixtures are commonly used to provide the workability of cement-based materials. In this study, to ensure required fluidity of FAC, chemically different water reducing agents are incorporated into the FAC pastes. The experiments are performed with aliphatic water reducing agent (AP), polycarboxylic acid water reducing agent (PC) and melamine water reducing agent (MA), respectively. Influence of the water reducing agents on fluidity, setting time, hydration process, hydration product and zeta potential of the fresh cement pastes is investigated. The results show that PC has a better dispersion capacity compared to AP and MA. Besides decreasing water dosage, PC also acts as a retarder, significantly increasing the setting times, delaying the hydration rate and leading to less ettringite in the hydration process of FAC particles. The water reducing agents molecules are adsorbed on the surface of positively charged minerals and hydration products, however, for PC, steric hindrance from the long side chain of PC plays a critical role in dispersing cement particles, whereas AP and MA acting through an electrostatic repulsion force. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Green Building Materials and Structural Performances)

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