Lightweight Concrete Using Local Industrial By-product

Construction is one of the largest users of energy, material resources and water and it is a formidable polluter. One of the major materials used in construction is concrete and ordinary concrete contains about 12% cement which is a major producer of greenhouse gas in the world. The use of waste materials as partial replacement of cement in concrete reduces greenhouse gases, frees up land fill space, and reduces raw materials consumption. This contributes towards sustainable development, as in a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth＇s crust. This research work explores the possibility of replacing some percentage of cement in concrete with marble sludge powder to produce lightweight concrete. This was achieved by determining the compressive strength and some hardened properties of concrete like sorptivity and carbonation with marble sludge. The results so far have been able to prove that lightweight concrete can be produced when some percentage of cement is replaced with this waste.     

Micro-stress analysis and identification of lightweight aggregate’s failure strength by micromechanical modeling

This work is based on a dual approach of experiments and micromechanical modeling in order to characterize the failure behaviors of lightweight aggregate concretes (LWAC). Many classes of LWAC were tested, based on five families of lightweight aggregates (LWA) and three types of mortar matrices: normal, high performance (HP) and very high performance (VHP). Micromechanical modeling is based on an iterative homogenization approach and associated localization: local stress distributions during the uniaxial compression tests can be predicted in LWAC’s components and at their interface. Experimental compressive strengths were measured on manufactured 16 × 32 cm cylindrical specimens. The confrontations between micromechanical modeling and experiments were used to identify LWA’s failure strengths which are difficult to measure, and to quantify the inaccuracies related to conventional methods. These corrected values of LWA’s failure strength were introduced into a failure criterion modeling: associated predictions of LWAC’s compressive strength are in good agreement with the experimental measurements.     

Effect of sintering temperature on lightweight aggregates manufacturing from copper contaminated soil

Manufacturing lightweight aggregate (LWA) at high temperature is an effective way to immobilize heavy metals in solid waste. This work investigated the performance and solidification mechanism of LWA prepared from copper contaminated soil. The volume expansion of LWA could reach a maximum of 28%, and its lowest density accounted of 1.5 g/cm³, which met the standard requirements. Optical microscope and micro-CT test illustrated that the addition of Cu leaded to obvious phase separation in LWA. The Cu leaching result of LWA first increased and then dropped with the temperature. The XRD test found that the main formation phase of Cu in LWA were t-CuFe₂O₄ and amorphous phase that they had different acid resistance ability. XPS revealed that the main cause of the agglomeration of liquid phase in LWA was the chain broken reaction between Cu and Si–O tetrahedron. SEM-EDS results showed that the distribution of Cu and Si had a strong correlation, which meant that Cu mostly formed amorphous phase. This work showed the uniqueness of Cu in the high temperature immobilization and pointed out the best immobilization target phase.     

In situ vapor-deposited parylene substrates for ultra-thin,lightweight organic solar cells

We fabricate the thinnest (1.3 μm) and lightest (3.6 g/m²) solar cells yet demonstrated, with weight-specific power exceeding 6 W/g, in order to illustrate the lower limits of substrate thickness and materials use achievable with a new processing paradigm. Our fabrication process uniquely starts with growth of an ultra-thin flexible polymer substrate in vacuum, followed by deposition of electrodes and photoactive layers in situ. With this process sequence, the entire cell—from transparent substrate to active layers to encapsulation—can be fabricated at room temperature without solvents and without breaking vacuum, avoiding exposure to dust and other contaminants, and minimizing damage risk associated with handling of thin substrates. We use in situ vapor-phase growth of smooth, transparent, and flexible parylene-C films to produce ultra-thin, lightweight molecular organic solar cells as thin as 2.3 μm including encapsulation with a second parylene-C film. These parylene-based devices exhibit power conversion efficiencies and fabrication yields comparable to glass-based cells. Flexible solar cells on parylene membranes can be seamlessly adhered to a variety of solid surfaces to provide additive solar power.     

Preliminary study on mitigating steel reinforcement corrosion with bioactive agent

Corrosion causes over $100 billion in damage annually. Cinnamaldehyde, a bioactive agent derived from cinnamon bark, can mitigate the corrosion of metals but has a negative effect on hydration when incorporated in cementitious systems. In order to avoid these negative consequences while harnessing anti-corrosive properties, cinnamaldehyde was incorporated in a cementitious mixture through the use of lightweight aggregate (LWA). The same method was used for penetrating corrosion inhibitors in an attempt to reduce the time required for the inhibitor to reach and protect reinforcing steel. The setting time, compressive strength, heat evolution (via semi-adiabatic calorimetry), and autogenous shrinkage of the experimental mixtures were measured and an accelerated corrosion test (ACT) was used to quantify performance in a corrosive environment. Experimental mortars showed prolonged setting times, reduced compressive strength, heat evolution, and autogenous expansion. However, the experimental mortars showed an increase in time to cracking when exposed to a corrosive environment.     

Mechanism investigation of welding induced buckling using inherent deformation method

Due to the increasing use of thin plates in lightweight welded structure, welding induced buckling may occur in such thin plate welded structure. In this study, welding induced buckling of thin plate welded structure is investigated using the eigenvalue analysis and elastic Finite Element (FE) analysis based on inherent deformation theory, and the mechanism of welding induced buckling is clarified.Bead-on-plate welding is first examined. Measured out-of-plane welding distortion indicates that saddle type buckling is produced after cooling. Eigenvalue analysis shows the computed lowest buckling mode is the saddle type and the corresponding critical force is less than the applied tendon force evaluated by Thermal–Elastic–Plastic (TEP) Finite Element (FE) analysis beforehand. Using elastic Finite Element (FE) analysis in which all components of inherent deformation are used and also considering initial deflection, out-of-plane welding distortion is predicted with high accuracy compared with measurement. It is also concluded that tendon force (longitudinal inherent shrinkage) is the dominant reason of buckling and it determines the buckling mode, and initial deflection and inherent bending are considered to be disturbances which trigger buckling.Later, a thin plate stiffened welded structure with fillet welded joints is examined. Although welding did not induce buckling of plate fields in bending modes in the considered thin plate stiffened welded structure, the whole stiffened welded structure buckles in a twisting mode, while plate panels remain unbuckled. Eigenvalue analysis gives the twisting buckling mode as the lowest buckling mode. However, in stiffened welded structures, not only tendon force (longitudinal inherent shrinkage) but also transverse inherent shrinkage is responsible for buckling. The good agreement between computed and measured out-of-plane welding distortion shows that the elastic Finite Element (FE) analysis using inherent deformation theory is an advantage of the computational approach to predict welding distortion in large-scale and complex welded structure with enough computational accuracy.     

Lightweight screed containing cork granules: Mechanical and hygrothermal characterization

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the use of expanded cork granule waste with cement-based mixtures to produce lightweight screeds as an overlay of a structural concrete slab. Lightweight screeds (LWSs) were made with Portland cement, sand, expanded cork granules (ECG) and water. These cork particles are industrial waste and are still a completely natural material even after industrial processing. The experiments were carried out on 3 cement dosages of 150 kg/m³, 250 kg/m³ and 400 kg/m³, incorporating expanded cork granules as replacement of part of the sand. Three additional mixtures without cork were prepared and used as reference. They had the same cement content as the lightweight ones. Hardened density, compressive strength, thermal conductivity, water vapor permeability, adsorption isotherms and water absorption by partial immersion of the mixtures were determined. Results show that the addition of expanded cork granules affects the screeds by decreasing their density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity while increasing their water vapor permeability.     

Use of pre-wetted lightweight fine expanded shale aggregates as internal nutrient reservoirs for microorganisms in bio-mineralized mortar

Interest in developing bio-based self-healing cement-based materials has gained broader attention in the concrete community. One of challenges in developing bio-based self-healing cement-based materials is that cell death or insufficient metabolic activity might occur when the cells are inoculated to the cement paste. This paper investigates the use of internal nutrient reservoirs via pre-wetted lightweight fine expanded shale aggregates to improve cell viability in mortar. Incorporation of internal nutrient reservoirs resulted in an increase in the vegetative cells remaining without any substantial loss in strength. These results pave the way to develop a self-healing and self-curing concrete with an extended service life.     

Coating of a lignocellulosic aggregate with pectin/polyethylenimin mixtures: Effects on flax shive and cement-shive composite properties

Lignocellulosic lightweight concretes are a potential contributor to sustainable development. However, lignocellulosic aggregates are not always fully compatible with cement matrices leading to setting delays, significant dimensional variations and low mechanical strengths. An aggregate treatment, reducing water absorption and water-soluble molecule release, can avoid or reduce these drawbacks. In this study a coating treatment, using a pectin/polyethylenimin (PP) mixture, was applied to flax shives, which is a lignocellulosic by-product. Before shive coating, a dilution with distilled water or a micro-wave heating were conducted to decrease PP mixture viscosity.The PP treatment involved a decrease in shive water absorption. Compared to standard shive concrete, treated shive concrete exhibited a decrease in setting delay with an increase in cement hydration enthalpy, an increase in mechanical strengths and a significant reduction in dimensional variations. Although a slight increase in thermal conductivity and bulk density was measured, the cement-shive composite obtained still belongs to the insulating concrete category.     

铝合金在自行车上的应用

本文介绍铝合金在交通运输方面尤其在自行车、电动车等方面的应用和发展,并指出自行车这一传统工具在国内某些城市的新用途,成为城市低碳出行的最佳选择之一,间接地为城市交通的发展提供一种节能、环保和惠民的新思路。