The Role of Glass Compounds in Autoclaved Bricks

Abstract

This study describes the relationship between the physio-mechanical and chemical properties of sand-lime materials which have undergone hydrothermal treatment, and which were modified through the introduction of glass components (90% glass sand, GS). Process parameters such as temperature, pressure and saturation vapor pressure were found to have a significant impact on the series of chemical reactions as well as on the formation and transformation of solid hydrates. During the stirring process of sand-lime mass, the temperature of the reaction between lime and water in the presence of quartz sand (QS) was determined to be 83 °C. In the presence of glass sand, measured temperature was only 42 °C. Thermodynamic equilibrium-based modelling was applied to predict stable phase assemblages in the studied systems. It was found that compositional modification along with the application of the autoclaving process resulted in the formation of two crystalline phases: natrolite and gyrolite. Compressive strength and density were also assessed. The strength of fresh laboratory samples was found to be greater than their traditional analogues by 15 MPa. In addition to experimental characterization, sand-lime materials were also modeled using neural networks (backpropagation neural network, BPNN) which serve as a universal approximation method capable of modelling complex functions.