A new method to evaluate the hydraulic activity of Al-Si materials

Slag, fly ash, gangue and 500 degrees C calcined gangue are analyzed by using identical coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and magnetic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR). Research results show that there is a negative linear relationship between the Si 2p and Al 2p binding energies of Al-Si materials and the compressive strength of aluminosilicate based cementitious materials prepared with these Al-Si materials, i.e. the lower the binding energies, the higher the compressive strength. Indeed, the Si 2p and Al 2p binding energies of Al-Si materials can be used to indicate their hydraulic activity. The binding energies of the four examined materials increase in the order of slag, fly ash, 500 degrees C calcined gangue and untreated gangue. Moreover, the binding energies of Si 2p, Al 2p and O 1s of every Al-Si material have excellent correlation. By using the Al 2p binding energy and Al-27 MAS NMR spectra, the coordination number of aluminum in slag is determined to be four, while that in gangue, is six. Based on the aforementioned discoveries, this paper presents a new effective method to evaluate the hydraulic activity of Al-Si materials by using the surface binding energies of silicon and aluminum of Al-Si materials.