As an industrial by-product containing pozzolanic components, recycled ferronickel slag (FNS) has the potential to be supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to reduce the massive carbon footprint of the cement industry, however, the main limitation of ferronickel slag as SCMs is the low hydration rate at an early age. In this study, the pozzolanic activity property results indicate that if the proportion is more than 10 %, FSN can hardly participate in the cement hydration reaction during the early stage, even the mechanical strength of FNS-mortar decreases obviously with the higher proportion of ferronickel slag. Therefore, mechanical grinding and steam curing at an early age are applied to promote the reaction activity of the recycled ferronickel slag tailing in this study. Compared with standard curing, the compressive strength of hardened FNS-cement paste with steam curing at 60 °C or 80 °C increased by 8.2 % or 33.8 %, and the connected porosity decreased by 18.9 % or 17.3 %. And MgO in the ferronickel slag exists as Mg₂SiO₄ in raw materials and enters the C-S-H gel with the formation of M-S-H gel during the secondary hydration stage. This study provides a theoretical basis for solid waste-based concrete and promotes the recycling, conservation, and resources of solid waste in building materials.

Cementitious materials are well acknowledged as one of the most adaptable materials for immobilizing heavy metals. Belite calcium sulfoaluminate cement (BCSA), one of the low-carbon alternative binders to cement with superior properties regarding chemical resistance and mechanical properties, is found with a desirable capability for waste immobilization. In this study, BCSA was used for Co(II) immobilization with a dosage of up to 2.5% by weight of BCSA. The results showed that Co(II) could promote the hydration of BCSA pastes, specifically accelerated the hydration of ye'elimite. More hydration products could be generated in the Co(II)-doped BCSA pastes, leading to the construction of a denser microstructure. The compressive strength of BCSA pastes would be slightly improved when BCSA was used for Co(II) immobilization, and the electrical resistivity would decrease. In terms of Co(II) immobilization, BCSA cement exhibited a desirable capacity for Co(II) immobilization. The majority of the Co(II) could be immobilized within the first 100 min of mixing BCSA with Co(II) solutions. The immobilization degrees of Co(II) in hardened BCSA pastes could approach about 99.99% after 7d. The acquired results indicated that BCSA cement is effective for Co(II) immobilization. Therefore, BCSA has a low-carbon advantage with superior strength development over time and prospective capacity of heavy metals immobilization.

Alternative current impedance spectroscopy (ACIS) is a promising non-destructive testing method to monitor long-term change and assess the durability of concrete. This study investigates the influences of Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA) on the hydration of hardening cement by ACIS. It is found that EDTA retards the early-age hydration of cement but can facilitate the later age reaction. Pastes with EDTA show comparable or higher compressive strength than Control at 28 d, especially when the dosage is higher than 0.4%. Microstructural characterization results reveal the working mechanism of EDTA originating from its complexing effect on free ions. The resistivity evolution of the pastes detected by ACIS can well reflect the effects of EDTA on the cement hydration in different ages. Proportional relations are identified between the resistivity and other hydration parameters, such as reaction degree, chemical shrinkage, compressive strength. The results of this study indicate a wider prospect of ACIS in monitoring the microstructure evolution and macro-properties of cementitious materials.

Pretreated coconut fibers can be applied as renewable damping components in fiber-reinforced cement mortars to reduce the adverse effects of vibration and promote the recycling of waste fibers. In this study, FT-IR, TG, XRD, and SEM measurements were performed to analyze the morphologies and physicochemical properties of the coconut fibers before and after pretreatment. The compressive strength, porosity, and damping properties were tested to study the effects of fiber pre-treatment on the mechanical properties of cement mortar. In contrast to original fibers, pretreated coconut fibers induced a moderate air-entraining effect in cement mortars. Therefore, the mortars with pretreated fibers exhibited significantly lower strength loss, indicating consistency with the porosity results. Furthermore, by adding 0.75 vol% coconut fibers pretreated by a mixed solution of NaOH and H₂O₂, the loss tangent of the cement mortar can be increased by 25%. The enhanced damping properties were attributed to the weakened interface between the fibers and cement mortar matrix, which facilitated dissipation of the vibration energy. Moreover, a simplified shear-lag model was proposed to describe the relationship between the weakened interface frictional sliding and the damping properties of the cement mortars.