Mechanochemical activation of coal fly ash for production of high strength cement conglomerates

In this work the experimental results of the investigation carried out on the use of micronized fly ash as pozzolanic material for production of cement mortars are presented. The milling of fly ash was carried out in planetary ball mill; the size distribution of micronized material was similar to silica fume, normally used to produce high strength conglomerates due to its very high specific surface. Micronized material was also beneficiated reducing the unburned fraction by means of triboelectrostatic separation. The mechanical strength tests of mortars were performed through the substitution of cement or sand (between 10 and 25 % in mass) with Micronized Fly Ash (MFA), Beneficiated Micronized Fly Ash (BMFA) and Silica Fume (SF), respectively. The water/cement ratio (w/c) was regulated to obtain equal workability of the mixtures (from 0.35 to 0.4). The best value of compression strength at 28 days (more than 100 MPa) is obtained with BMFA (in substitution of sand): this value is 34 and 10 % higher than reference mortar with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and mortar with SF, respectively. On the basis of these results a chemico-physico- mechanical improvement of the fly ash was achieved making reutilisation of this by-product in high strength cement conglomerates feasible.