RADIAL COAL ASH-BASED MICRO-ARCHITECTURES AND METHOD OF SYNTHESIS

摘要

Microparticles having crystalline needle or rod-shaped structures of, for example, an ettringite mineral grown and attached radially from their surface. A method including nucleating and growing crystalline needles/rods from the surface of a particle in the presence of a solution of calcium, sulfur, and aluminum such as calcium sulfoaluminate, lime and calcium sulfate is described. One example is the radial growth of ettringite needles on the surface of fly ash particles in calcium sulfoaluminate-based cement paste and concrete. A particle including a substrate comprising a plurality of crystalline needle or rod-shaped structures of an ettringite mineral attached radially to a surface of the substrate, wherein the substrate includes one of an approximately spherical shape, a rod, a ring or a platelet.