Assessment and Utilization of Some Egyptian Clay Deposits for Producing Lightweight Concrete

Abstract

The clay materials were collected from Fayoum area (F- type) and Alamine area (A- type and S- type). Swelling and PH measurnments for the selected raw clay materials were measured. Chemical and mineral composition was investigated using XRF and XRD, respectively. Chemical analysis confirms that F type has higher alumina than the other two types of clay A and S. Kaolinite is an essential mineral in F type while it occurs in minor amount in A and S types. Montmorillonite detected classified into calcium montmorillonite and sodium montmorillonite. Calcium montmorillonite is observed in F type while sodium montmorillonite is detected in both samples of S and A types. PH value results refer to the F type is slightly below 7 while the S and A types are above 8. Swelling measurements showed also different values in the three types of clay materials reaching a value of 300% in S- types 100% in soil A and 50% in F- type. The data of swelling and PH confirm the distribution of montmorillonite in the three types of clay materials. The bloataility of the fired granules in term of density show that the lowest density for A and S types (0.84 and 0.65 g/cm3 at 1150o C respectively.) compared with the F type (1.75g/cm3) at 1200o C. XRD patterns of the fired clay samples confirm that A and S mainly composed of quartz and hematite as well as some albite in restricted to A type. F sample record mullite in addition to the cristobalite and quartz. Lightweight concretes blocks of low density and relatively good strength are tested for producing and utilized in modern building trend for dead–load construction and wall construction were prepared from clay materials under investigation by firing the A and S types up to 1150oC using a rate of heating 20oC/min