Preparation of High Strength and Lightweight Wall Materials Using Oil Shale Ash as Raw Materials

In this research, high strength and lightweight wall materials were made from oil shale ash (OSA) by grinding, mixing, casting molding, autoclave curing processes, et al. Factors influencing the bulk density and compressive strength of the wall materials were discussed in detail. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were used to characterize the samples. The results indicated that the compressive strength can reach up to 13.42 MPa when the bulk density reduced to 1.11g/cm(3) introduced 72.00 % of OSA, the wall materials showed thermal conductivity of 0.12 similar to 0.14 W/ m k. The main hydration products of the wall materials were calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)(2)], C-S-H gelation and hydrogrossular [Ca3Al2(SiO4)(OH)(8)]. These hydration products are prodominently C-S-H gelation bonded the solid raw materials together tightly and play a great contribution to the compressive strength of wall materials.