Metakaolin sand–blended-cement pastes: Rheology, hydration process and mechanical properties

[EN] In the present work, the use of three Slovak poor metakaolin sands with different metakaolin content (36.0% (MK-1), 31.5 (MK-2) and 40.0% (MK-3)) and specific surface has been deeply studied as mineral addition for Portland cement. The percentage of metakaolin sands in the blended cements was 10%, 20% and 40%. The pozzolanic tests confirm that the three metakaolin sands show a high pozzolanic activity, comparable to a commercial metakaolin and silica fume. With respect to the rheological behaviour, metakaolin sand–blended-cement pastes fit to Herchel–Bulkley model and their yield stress increases as the metakaolin content increases. MK-3 sand with the highest pozzolanic activity and highest specific surface induces the highest increase of the yield stress. From the calorimetric results it is concluded that the addition of MK-1 and MK-2 sands to Portland cement induces a delay up to 2 h of the precipitation of the main hydration products in the blended-cement pastes and decreases the maximum heat evolution rate. On the contrary, the incorporation of 40% of MK-3 sand shortens 6 h its apparition and increases significantly the maximum heat evolution rate. Additionally, the presence of the metakaolin sands reduces the heat released during the hydration process with respect to non-blended-cement pastes. The incorporation of metakaolin sand induces a decrease of the mechanical strength, being the decrease higher as the metakaolin sand content increases although they also produce a refinement in the pore structure and a decrease of the permeability.Peer reviewe

Metakaolin sand–blended-cement pastes: Rheology, hydration process and mechanical properties

[EN] In the present work, the use of three Slovak poor metakaolin sands with different metakaolin content (36.0% (MK-1), 31.5 (MK-2) and 40.0% (MK-3)) and specific surface has been deeply studied as mineral addition for Portland cement. The percentage of metakaolin sands in the blended cements was 10%, 20% and 40%. The pozzolanic tests confirm that the three metakaolin sands show a high pozzolanic activity, comparable to a commercial metakaolin and silica fume. With respect to the rheological behaviour, metakaolin sand–blended-cement pastes fit to Herchel–Bulkley model and their yield stress increases as the metakaolin content increases. MK-3 sand with the highest pozzolanic activity and highest specific surface induces the highest increase of the yield stress. From the calorimetric results it is concluded that the addition of MK-1 and MK-2 sands to Portland cement induces a delay up to 2 h of the precipitation of the main hydration products in the blended-cement pastes and decreases the maximum heat evolution rate. On the contrary, the incorporation of 40% of MK-3 sand shortens 6 h its apparition and increases significantly the maximum heat evolution rate. Additionally, the presence of the metakaolin sands reduces the heat released during the hydration process with respect to non-blended-cement pastes. The incorporation of metakaolin sand induces a decrease of the mechanical strength, being the decrease higher as the metakaolin sand content increases although they also produce a refinement in the pore structure and a decrease of the permeability.Peer reviewe

Preparation of patterned GaAs structures for MEMS and MOEMS

The preparation and characterisation of four-sided GaAs pyramidal mesas is presented. A novel wet-chemical etching method uses a fast lateral etching of an AlAs interlayer that influences the cross-sectional profile of the structure. The sidewalls of the prepared pyramidal structures together with the (100) bottom facet formed the cross-sectional angles 25degrees and 42degrees for mask edges parallel, respectively, perpendicular to the {011} cleavage planes. For mask edges turned in 45degrees according to the cleavage planes, 42degrees cross-sectional angles were obtained. Using the method. more than 10-mum-high symmetric GaAs "Egyptian" pyramids with smooth tilted facets were prepared. The quality of the pyramidal structures was checked using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEW Structures are suitable for the following epitaxial overgrowth of quantum structures. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved