Hydration behavior of circulating fluidized bed fly ash (CFBFA) as a cementitious binder

Abstract In this study, the hydration behavior of circulating fluidized bed fly ash (CFBFA) as a cementitious binder was investigated in a CFBFA-lime system. Binary mixtures of CFBFA and lime were prepared with different weight ratios, and a series of experiments were performed to evaluate the hydration behavior of the mixtures. When the mixing weight ratio of CFBFA and lime was 5:1, the prepared mixtures could reach 17 MPa at 28 days. Hydration heat curves revealed that the release heat peak related to the hydration of CFBFA appeared earlier as the content of lime increased. This likely stemmed from the release of heat by the hydration of lime. Analysis of Ca(OH)2 consumption and chemically bound water revealed that the hydration reaction of mixtures can continue for a long time after Ca(OH)2 was depleted. In addition, the main hydration products of the CFBFA-lime system were C-S-H, C-A-S-H, AFm and AFt. The micro-morphology of the hydration products changed from needles to mesh-like and then to foil-like as the lime content in mixtures increased.