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Advances in Binders for Construction Materials

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2022) | Viewed by 21928

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jorge Otero

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Guest Editor

Department of Art Conservation, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: binders; construction building materials; historic mortars; heritage conservation; nanolime; deterioration; inorganic porous building materials; monument repair
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global production of binder for construction materials is approximately 7.5 billion tons per year, which contributes ~6% to the global anthropogenic atmospheric CO₂ emissions. Reducing this carbon footprint is a key aim of the construction industry, and current research focuses on developing new innovative ways to attain more sustainable binders and concrete/mortars as a real alternative to the current global demand for Portland cement.

With this aim, several potential alternative binders are currently being investigated by scientists worldwide, based on calcium aluminate cement, calcium sulfoaluminate cement, alkali-activated binders, calcined clay limestone cements, nanomaterials, or supersulfated cements. This Special Issue welcomes contributions that address research and practical advances in i) alternative binder manufacturing processes; ii) chemical, microstructural, and structural characterization of unhydrated binders and of hydrated systems; iii) the properties and modelling of concrete and mortars; iv) applications and durability of concrete and mortars; and v) the conservation and repair of historic concrete/mortar structures using alternative binders.

This Special Issue will focus on papers with a broad interest in the binder industry and construction community, based upon the novelty and quality of the results and the real potential application of the findings to the practice and industry.

Dr. Jorge Otero
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

binders
mortars
renders
grouts
building materials
lime
cement
concrete
alkali-activated materials
alternative binders
high-performance concrete
geopolymers
gypsum
calcium aluminate cement
nanolime
supersulfated cements
calcium sulfoaluminate binders
mortar additives
Roman fly ash
cementitious composites
calcined clay limestone cements
natural pozzolans
hybrid binders
nanomaterials
durability
life cycle assessment
recycled materials
waste management
environmental assessment
repair of historic construction materials
concrete conservation
case studies

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

27 pages, 9050 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In-Depth Analysis of Cement-Based Material Incorporating Metakaolin Using Individual and Ensemble Machine Learning Approaches

by Abdulrahman Mohamad Radwan Bulbul, Kaffayatullah Khan, Afnan Nafees, Muhammad Nasir Amin, Waqas Ahmad, Muhammad Usman, Sohaib Nazar and Abdullah Mohammad Abu Arab

Materials 2022, 15(21), 7764; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15217764 - 03 Nov 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1743

Abstract

In recent decades, a variety of organizational sectors have demanded and researched green structural materials. Concrete is the most extensively used manmade material. Given the adverse environmental effect of cement manufacturing, research has focused on minimizing environmental impact and cement-based product costs. Metakaolin (MK) as an additive or partial cement replacement is a key subject of concrete research. Developing predictive machine learning (ML) models is crucial as environmental challenges rise. Since cement-based materials have few ML approaches, it is important to develop strategies to enhance their mechanical properties. This article analyses ML techniques for forecasting MK concrete compressive strength (fc’). Three different individual and ensemble ML predictive models are presented in detail, namely decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron neural network (MLPNN), and random forest (RF), along with the most effective factors, allowing for efficient investigation and prediction of the fc’ of MK concrete. The authors used a database of MK concrete mechanical features for model generalization, a key aspect of any prediction or simulation effort. The database includes 551 data points with relevant model parameters for computing MK concrete’s fc’. The database contains cement, metakaolin, coarse and fine aggregate, water, silica fume, superplasticizer, and age, which affect concrete’s fc’ but were seldom considered critical input characteristics in the past. Finally, the performance of the models is assessed to pick and deploy the best predicted model for MK concrete mechanical characteristics. K-fold cross validation was employed to avoid overfitting issues of the models. Additionally, ML approaches were utilized to combine SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) data to better understand the MK mix design non-linear behaviour and how each input parameter’s weighting influences the total contribution. Results depict that DT AdaBoost and modified bagging are the best ML algorithms for predicting MK concrete fc’ with R² = 0.92. Moreover, according to SHAP analysis, age impacts MK concrete fc’ the most, followed by coarse aggregate and superplasticizer. Silica fume affects MK concrete’s fc’ least. ML algorithms estimate MK concrete’s mechanical characteristics to promote sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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19 pages, 11324 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity of Concrete Containing Waste Marble Dust and Its Estimation Using Artificial Intelligence

by Dawei Yang, Jiahui Zhao, Salman Ali Suhail, Waqas Ahmad, Paweł Kamiński, Artur Dyczko, Abdelatif Salmi and Abdullah Mohamed

Materials 2022, 15(12), 4311; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15124311 - 17 Jun 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1927

Abstract

Researchers and engineers are presently focusing on efficient waste material utilization in the construction sector to reduce waste. Waste marble dust has been added to concrete to minimize pollution and landfills problems. Therefore, marble dust was utilized in concrete, and its prediction was made via an artificial intelligence approach to give an easier way to scholars for sustainable construction. Various blends of concrete having 40 mixes were made as partial substitutes for waste marble dust. The ultrasonic pulse velocity of waste marble dust concrete (WMDC) was compared to a control mix without marble dust. Additionally, this research used standalone (multiple-layer perceptron neural network) and supervised machine learning methods (Bagging, AdaBoost, and Random Forest) to predict the ultrasonic pulse velocity of waste marble dust concrete. The models’ performances were assessed using R², RMSE, and MAE. Then, the models’ performances were validated using k-fold cross-validation. Furthermore, the effect of raw ingredients and their interactions using SHAP analysis was evaluated. The Random Forest model, with an R² of 0.98, outperforms the MLPNN, Bagging, and AdaBoost models. Compared to all the other models (individual and ensemble), the Random Forest model with greater R² and lower error (RMSE, MAE) has a superior performance. SHAP analysis revealed that marble dust content has a positive and direct influence on and relationship to the ultrasonic pulse velocity of concrete. Using machine learning to forecast concrete properties saves time, resources, and effort for scholars in the engineering sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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28 pages, 8130 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Use of Waste Marble Powder in Concrete and Predicting Its Strength with Different Advanced Algorithms

by Kaffayatullah Khan, Waqas Ahmad, Muhammad Nasir Amin, Ayaz Ahmad, Sohaib Nazar, Anas Abdulalim Alabdullah and Abdullah Mohammad Abu Arab

Materials 2022, 15(12), 4108; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15124108 - 09 Jun 2022

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2907

Abstract

Recently, the high demand for marble stones has progressed in the construction industry, ultimately resulting in waste marble production. Thus, environmental degradation is unavoidable because of waste generated from quarry drilling, cutting, and blasting methods. Marble waste is produced in an enormous amount in the form of odd blocks and unwanted rock fragments. Absence of a systematic way to dispose of these marble waste massive mounds results in environmental pollution and landfills. To reduce this risk, an effort has been made for the incorporation of waste marble powder into concrete for sustainable construction. Different proportions of marble powder are considered as a partial substitute in concrete. A total of 40 mixes are prepared. The effectiveness of marble in concrete is assessed by comparing the compressive strength with the plain mix. Supervised machine learning algorithms, bagging (Bg), random forest (RF), AdaBoost (AdB), and decision tree (DT) are used in this study to forecast the compressive strength of waste marble powder concrete. The models’ performance is evaluated using correlation coefficient (R²), root mean square error, and mean absolute error and mean square error. The achieved performance is then validated by using the k-fold cross-validation technique. The RF model, having an R² value of 0.97, has more accurate prediction results than Bg, AdB, and DT models. The higher R² values and lesser error (RMSE, MAE, and MSE) values are the indicators for better performance of RF model among all individual and ensemble models. The implementation of machine learning techniques for predicting the mechanical properties of concrete would be a practical addition to the civil engineering domain by saving effort, resources, and time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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20 pages, 8852 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Debonding of Thin Bonded Rubberised Fibre-Reinforced Cement-Based Repairs under Monotonic Loading: Experimental and Numerical Investigation

by Syed Asad Ali Gillani, Shaban Shahzad, Wasim Abbass, Safeer Abbas, Ahmed Toumi, Anaclet Turatsinze, Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed and Mohamed Mahmoud Sayed

Materials 2022, 15(11), 3886; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15113886 - 30 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1735

Abstract

In this study, the durability of cement-based repairs was observed, especially at the interface of debonding initiation and propagation between the substrate–overlay of thin-bonded cement-based material, using monotonic tests experimentally and numerically. Overlay or repair material (OM) is a cement-based mortar with the addition of metallic fibres (30 kg/m³) and rubber particles (30% as a replacement for sand), while the substrate is a plain mortar without any addition, known as control. Direct tension tests were conducted on OM in order to obtain the relationship between residual stress-crack openings (σ-w law). Similarly, tensile tests were conducted on the substrate–overlay interface to draw the relationship between residual stress and opening of the substrate–overlay interface. Three-point monotonic bending tests were performed on the composite beam of the substrate–overlay in order to observe the structural response of the repaired beam. The digital image correlation (DIC) method was utilized to examine the debonding propagation along the interface. Based on the different parameters obtained through the above-mentioned experiments, a three-point bending monotonic test was modelled through finite elements using a software package developed in France called CAST3M. Structural behaviour of repaired beams observed by experimental results and that analysed by numerical simulation are in coherence. It is concluded from the results that the hybrid use of fibres and rubber particles in repaired material provides a synergetic effect by improving its strain capacity, restricting crack openings by the transfer of stress from the crack. This enhances the durability of repair by controlling propagation of the interface debonding. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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22 pages, 5583 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Forecasting Compressive Strength of RHA Based Concrete Using Multi-Expression Programming

by Muhammad Nasir Amin, Kaffayatullah Khan, Muhammad Faisal Javed, Dina Yehia Zakaria Ewais, Muhammad Ghulam Qadir, Muhammad Iftikhar Faraz, Mir Waqas Alam, Anas Abdulalim Alabdullah and Muhammad Imran

Materials 2022, 15(11), 3808; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15113808 - 26 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1700

Abstract

Rice husk ash (RHA) is a significant pollutant produced by agricultural sectors that cause a malignant outcome to the environment. To encourage the re-use of RHA, this work used multi expression programming (MEP) to construct an empirical model for forecasting the compressive nature of concrete made with RHA (CRHA) as a cement substitute. Thus, the compressive strength of CRHA was developed comprising of 192 findings from the broad and trustworthy database obtained from literature review. The most significant characteristics, namely the specimen’s age, the percentage of RHA, the amount of cement, superplasticizer, aggregates, and the amount of water, were used as input for the modeling of CRHA. External validation, sensitivity analysis, statistical checks, and Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis were used to evaluate the models’ performance. It was discovered that the most significant factors impacting the compressive strength of CRHA are the age of the concrete sample (AS), the amount of cement (C) and the amount of aggregate (A). The findings of this study have the potential to increase the re-use of RHA in the production of green concrete, hence promoting environmental protection and financial gain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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19 pages, 16761 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Study of Experimental and Modeling of Fly Ash-Based Concrete

by Kaffayatullah Khan, Ayaz Ahmad, Muhammad Nasir Amin, Waqas Ahmad, Sohaib Nazar and Abdullah Mohammad Abu Arab

Materials 2022, 15(11), 3762; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15113762 - 24 May 2022

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 1633

Abstract

The application of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in concrete has been reported as the sustainable approach toward the appropriate development. This research aims to compare the result of compressive strength (C-S) obtained from the experimental method and results estimated by employing the various modeling techniques for the fly-ash-based concrete. Although this study covers two aspects, an experimental approach and modeling techniques for predictions, the emphasis of this research is on the application of modeling methods. The physical and chemical properties of the cement and fly ash, water absorption and specific gravity of the aggregate used, surface area of the cement, and gradation of the aggregate were analyzed in the laboratory. The four predictive machine learning (PML) algorithms, such as decision tree (DT), multi-linear perceptron (MLP), random forest (RF), and bagging regressor (BR), were investigated to anticipate the C-S of concrete. Results reveal that the RF model was observed more exact in investigating the C-S of concrete containing fly ash (FA), as opposed to other employed PML techniques. The high R2 value (0.96) for the RF model indicates the high precision level for forecasting the required output as compared to DT, MLP, and BR model R² results equal 0.88, 0.90, and 0.93, respectively. The statistical results and cross-validation (C-V) method also confirm the high predictive accuracy of the RF model. The highest contribution level of the cement towards the prediction was also reported in the sensitivity analysis and showed a 31.24% contribution. These PML methods can be effectively employed to anticipate the mechanical properties of concretes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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11 pages, 1644 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preliminary Study of the Fresh and Hard Properties of UHPC That Is Used to Produce 3D Printed Mortar

by Ester Gimenez-Carbo, Raquel Torres, Hugo Coll, Marta Roig-Flores, Pedro Serna and Lourdes Soriano

Materials 2022, 15(8), 2750; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15082750 - 08 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1363

Abstract

Three-dimensional printed concrete (3DPC) is a relatively recent technology that may be very important in changing the traditional construction industry. The principal advantages of its use are more rapid construction, lower production costs, and less residues, among others. The choice of raw materials to obtain adequate behavior is more critical than for traditional concrete. In the present paper a mixture of cement, silica fume, superplasticizer, setting accelerator, filler materials, and aggregates was studied to obtain a 3DPC with high resistance at short curing times. When the optimal mixture was found, metallic fibers were introduced to enhance the mechanical properties. The fresh and hard properties of the concrete were analyzed, measuring the setting time, workability, and flexural and compressive strength. The results obtained demonstrated that the incorporation of fibers (2% in volume) enhanced the flexural and compressive strength by around 163 and 142%, respectively, compared with the mixture without fibers, at 9 h of curing. At 28 days of curing, the improvement was 79.2 and 34.7% for flexural and compressive strength, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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16 pages, 3713 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Cement Type on the Properties of Plastering Mortars Modified with Cellulose Ether Admixture

by Edyta Spychał and Przemysław Czapik

Materials 2021, 14(24), 7634; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14247634 - 11 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2248

Abstract

In this article, the effect of cement type on selected properties of plastering mortars containing a cellulose ether admixture was studied. In the research, commercial CEM I Portland cement, CEM II and CEM III, differing in the type and amount of mineral additives, and cement class, were used as binders. Tests of consistency, bulk density, water retention value (WRV), mechanical properties and calorimetric tests were performed. It was proved that the type of cement had no effect on water retention, which is regulated by the cellulose ether. All mortars modified with the admixture were characterized by WRV of about 99%. High water retention is closely related to the action of the cellulose ether admixture. As a result of the research, the possibility of using cement with additives as components of plasters was confirmed. However, attention should be paid to the consistency, mechanical properties of the tested mortars and changes in the pastes during the hydration process. Different effects of additives resulted from increasing or decreasing the consistency of mortars; the flow was in the range from 155 mm to 169 mm. Considering the compressive strength, all plasters can be classified as category III or IV, because the mortars attained the strength required by the standard, of at least 3.5 MPa. The processes of hydration of pastes were carried out with different intensity. In conclusion, the obtained results indicate the possibility of using CEM II and CEM III cements to produce plastering mortars, without changing the effect of water retention. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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Review

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20 pages, 5015 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Scientometric Review on Mapping Research Knowledge for 3D Printing Concrete

by Chuan He, Shiyu Zhang, Youwang Liang, Waqas Ahmad, Fadi Althoey, Saleh H. Alyami, Muhammad Faisal Javed and Ahmed Farouk Deifalla

Materials 2022, 15(14), 4796; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15144796 - 08 Jul 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1625

Abstract

The scientometric analysis is statistical scrutiny of books, papers, and other publications to assess the “output” of individuals/research teams, organizations, and nations, to identify national and worldwide networks, and to map the creation of new (multi-disciplinary) scientific and technological fields that would be beneficial for the new researchers in the particular field. A scientometric review of 3D printing concrete is carried out in this study to explore the different literature aspects. There are limitations in conventional and typical review studies regarding the capacity of such studies to link various elements of the literature accurately and comprehensively. Some major problematic phases in advanced level research are: co-occurrence, science mapping, and co-citation. The sources with maximum articles, the highly creative researchers/authors known for citations and publications, keywords co-occurrences, and actively involved domains in 3D printing concrete research are explored during the analysis. VOS viewer application analyses bibliometric datasets with 953 research publications were extracted from the Scopus database. The current study would benefit academics for joint venture development and sharing new strategies and ideas due to the graphical and statistical depiction of contributing regions/countries and researchers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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23 pages, 3074 KiB

Open AccessReview

Fly Ash Application as Supplementary Cementitious Material: A Review

by Guanlei Li, Chengke Zhou, Waqas Ahmad, Kseniia Iurevna Usanova, Maria Karelina, Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed and Rana Khallaf

Materials 2022, 15(7), 2664; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15072664 - 05 Apr 2022

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 3183

Abstract

This study aimed to expand the knowledge on the application of the most common industrial byproduct, i.e., fly ash, as a supplementary cementitious material. The characteristics of cement-based composites containing fly ash as supplementary cementitious material were discussed. This research evaluated the mechanical, durability, and microstructural properties of FA-based concrete. Additionally, the various factors affecting the aforementioned properties are discussed, as well as the limitations associated with the use of FA in concrete. The addition of fly ash as supplementary cementitious material has a favorable impact on the material characteristics along with the environmental benefits; however, there is an optimum level of its inclusion (up to 20%) beyond which FA has a deleterious influence on the composite’s performance. The evaluation of the literature identified potential solutions to the constraints and directed future research toward the application of FA in higher amounts. The delayed early strength development is one of the key downsides of FA use in cementitious composites. This can be overcome by chemical activation (alkali/sulphate) and the addition of nanomaterials, allowing for high-volume use of FA. By utilizing FA as an SCM, sustainable development may promote by lowering CO₂ emissions, conserving natural resources, managing waste effectively, reducing environmental pollution, and low hydration heat. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Binders for Construction Materials)

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