Perlite is a volcanic glass which has high amount of silica and alumina. Those properties make it a candidate, if finely ground, for being used as a pozzolan. The studies on the pozzolanic properties of perlite are very limited, and none of them has dealt with the use of perlite in the blended cement production. The aim of this study is to investigate the pozzolanic properties of perlite, and if appropriate to investigate perlite&rsquo / s usability in blended cement production. For this purpose, perlites from two different sources &ndash / Izmir and Erzincan - are used as replacement of portland cement clinker with two different percentages: 20% and 30% by weight of total cement. Then for each different composition, materials are ground with some gypsum in order obtain grinding curves for the resultant cements. After obtaining the grinding curves, a total of 22 cements with two different finenesses are produced by intergrinding and separately grinding the materials for each composition. The obtained cements are used in paste and mortar production so that normal consistencies, setting times, autoclave expansions, and compressive strengths are determined.

Acrylic bone cements are one of the most important biomaterials used in orthopaedic surgery and dental applications to fill the cavities or provide mechanical interlock between prosthesis and the bone. Their biocompatibility can be increased by addition of different materials into the formulation, such as hydroxyapatite. Besides all the advantages, bone cements have several drawbacks including tissue necrosis, chemical necrosis, shrinkage of the cement and aseptic loosening. Therefore painstaking research and study are carried out on development of new formulations to improve mechanical and thermal properties as well as biocompatibilities. In this study, bone cements with different compositions were prepared and new formulations were examined to improve mechanical properties and to reduce maximum curing temperature. It was observed that addition of hydroxyapatite, while keeping polymer-to-monomer ratio constant at 2.0, decreased curing temperature and increased compressive strength about 11% (Group-C) when hydroxyapatite addition was 12%. Further addition of hydroxyapatite destroyed homogeneity of the cement dough and made it difficult to handle. The composition which contains 8% hydroxyapatite was chosen as the optimum composition in respect of mechanical properties with 102.62&deg / C curing temperature. In order to decrease the curing temperature ammonium nitrate this gives endothermic reactions with water, was added into the formulations. Addition of 0.5 g NH4NO3 decreased curing temperature from 94&deg / C to 79.3&deg / C while compressive strength kept in acceptable range with 95.99 MPa. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed formulation is acceptable for workability, homogeneity, mechanical strength and thermal properties. Further studies especially on curing temperature and biocompatibility should be achieved.

This thesis aims identifying the sources of competitive advantage of the TUrkish clothing and cement industries with respect to the European Union following the methodology of the Diamond Framework, introduced by Porter (1990), which is based on the theory of competitive advantage. The methodology is modified in order to include the effects of Turkey&#039 / s integration process to the European Union on the industries. Using this methodology, this study assesses the sources of competitive advantage of the Turkish clothing and cement industries by evaluating the industries&#039 / factor conditions, demand conditions, firm structure, strategy and rivalry and the role of the government and European integration process. the main idea of this study is that both industries take their advantage from basic factor conditions. While the role of Turkey&#039 / s integration process to the EU is more effective on the clothing industry, it stays limited on the cement industry.

Hybrid systems with two or more fiber materials were used to combine the benefits of each fiber into a single composite product. Strength and toughness optimization of hybrid thin sheet composites has been studied extensively using combination of different fiber types with low and high modulus of elasticity. Hybrid reinforcement is more significant when the reinforcing structure is in fabric geometry. Fabric structure provides full control on the exact location of each yarn and its orientation in the composite during production, thus maximizes the reinforcing efficiency. A high-strength, high-modulus fiber primarily tends to increase the composite strength with nominal improvements in toughness. A low-modulus fiber expected to mainly improve toughness and ductility. Combination of two or more types of fiber can produce a composite that is both strong and tough as compared to a mono fiber composite. The purpose of the current work was to study hybrid warp knitted fabrics as reinforcement for cementbased composite, having AR (Alkali Resistance) glass and Polypropylene (PP) as the reinforcing yarns. The examined ratios between the two different yarns were 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 100:0 (glass: PP, by percentage). It was found that in the hybrid system, the fracture mechanism is a superposition of the mono systems, and the tensile behavior is a combination between the two materials.

The thesis is dealing with mixing processes havingapplication to ground improvement by deep mixing. The mainobjectives of the thesis is to make a contribution to knowledgeof the basic mechanisms in mixing binding agents into soil andimprove the knowledge concerning factors that influence theuniformity of stabilised soil. A great part of the work consists of a literature surveywith particular emphasis on literature on the processindustries. This review forms a basis for a profounddescription and discussion of the mixing process and factorsaffecting the process in connection with deep mixingmethods. The thesis presents a method for a simple field test for thestudy of influential factors in the mixing process. A number offactors in the installation process of lime-cement columns havebeen studied in two field tests using statistical multifactorexperiment design. The effects of retrieval rate, number ofmixing blades, rotation speed, air pressure in the storagetank, and diameter of the binder outlet on the stabilisationeffect and the coefficient of variation determined byhand-operated penetrometer tests for excavated lime-cementcolumns, were studied. The literature review, the description of the mixingprocess, and the results from the field tests provide a morebalanced picture of the mixing process and are expected to beuseful in connection to ground improvement projects and thedevelopment of mixing equipments. The concept of sufficient mixture quality, i.e. theinteraction between the mixing process and the mechanicalsystem, is discussed in the last section. By means ofgeostatistical methods, the analysis considers thevolume-variability relationship with reference to strengthproperties. According to the analysis, the design values forstrength properties depends on the mechanical system, the scaleof scrutiny, the spatial correlation structure, and the conceptof safety, i.e. the concept of sufficient mixture quality isproblem specific. Key words:Deep Mixing, Lime cement columns, Mixingmechanisms, Mixture quality, Field test, ANOVA, Variancereduction.

Insitu cementitious stabilisation is an economical, environmentally sustainable and socially advantageous means of rehabilitating pavements. With the recent availability of a wide range of binders and advanced construction equipment, the characterisation of cementitiously stabilised pavement materials has become the focus of further advancement of this technology. Australian practice has moved towards the use of Indirect Diametric Tensile (IDT) methods for the characterisation of these materials. A draft protocol for the IDT test has been prepared and specifies samples to be compacted by gyratory compactor. This procedure provides for both monotonic and repeated load testing, which aims to measure the material???s strength, modulus and fatigue life. A range of host materials, including a new crushed rock and a reclaimed existing pavement base course, were assessed when stabilised with a General Purpose cement binder as well as with a slag-lime blended binder. Materials were assess for their inherent material properties, Unconfined Compression Strength (UCS), Unconfined Compression modulus, IDT strength and modulus under both monotonic and repeated load. A number of amendments and refinements to the testing protocol were recommended. These included the use of minimum binder contents to ensure the binder was uniformly distributed and to promote heavy binding of the materials to ensure they behaved elastically. It was also recommended that samples be gyratory compacted to a pre-determined sample height to allow a constant density to be achieved. The variability of the test results was examined. UCS results were found to be comparatively as variable as other researchers had reported. IDT strength results contained a similar level of variability, which was considered to be acceptable. Modulus results, both monotonic and repeated load, were found to be five to ten times more variable than strength results, which is a generally accepted trend for modulus testing. Under repeated loading, some challenges with the test protocol were encountered. The primary challenge was obtaining reliable and repeatable diametrical displacement data for modulus calculation. This was partially overcome by the insertion of smooth spacers to prevent the Linear Voltage Displacement Transformer (LVDTs) becoming caught on the sample sides. The achievement of reliable and repeatable IDT modulus results through improved displacement measurements should be the focus of future research efforts in this area.

Autogenous shrinkage is of concern in high performance concrete mixtures, when specific properties like strength and durability are enhanced. Factors like low watercement ratio, low porosity and increased hydration kinetics which are associated with high performance concrete mixtures are also responsible for the development of autogenous shrinkage. With about two decades of research into autogenous shrinkage, uncertainties still exist with testing procedure, effect of supplementary cementitious materials, modelling and prediction of autogenous shrinkage. The primary focus of this study is to understand mechanisms which have been postulated to cause autogenous shrinkage like chemical shrinkage and self desiccation. In addition, this study has considered properties like porosity and internal empty voids in the analysis of the causes of bulk volume deformations of the cementitious paste systems with and without mineral admixtures. The study begins with an experimental investigation of chemical shrinkage in hydrating cementitious paste systems with the addition of fly ash, slag and silica fume using the test method recently accepted by the ASTM. This was followed by the experimental investigation of autogenous shrinkage in cementitious paste. The autogenous shrinkage in paste mixtures is studied from an early age (~1.5 hours after addition of water) for cementitious systems at a water-cementitious ratio of 0.32 (w/c 0.25 for limited mixture proportions). A non-contact measurement method using eddy current sensors were adopted. The hydration mechanism of the cementitious paste systems was then modelled using CEMHYD3D, which is a 3 dimensional numerical modelling method successfully used to study, simulate and present the hydration developments in cementitious systems. Properties like chemical shrinkage, degree of hydration, total porosity and free water content; all of which have been obtained from the CEMHYD3D simulation have been cross correlated with the experimental results in order to more comprehensively understand the mechanism contributing to bulk volume change under sealed conditions. The experimental investigations are extended to study the development in concrete with and without mineral admixtures (i.e., silica fume, fly ash and slag). Self desiccation driving the development of autogenous shrinkage has been used extensively across literature but as an alternative the author has proposed using internal drying factor in modelling autogenous shrinkage. The "internal drying factor" is described as the ratio of the empty voids (due to chemical shrinkage) to the total porosity at any point of time of hydration. Independent of the mixture proportions, a linear trend was observed between the autogenous shrinkage strain and increase in internal drying factor. Thus the internal drying factor could be incorporated into semiempirical models while attempting to predict autogenous shrinkage. An increase in the compressive strength of matured concrete at 1 year had a strong correlation to the observed autogenous shrinkage strains irrespective of the cementitious system. It is believed this could be because of the increase in gel-space ratio which is intern linked to the degree of hydration and porosity of the microstructure. The author has obtained strong evidence that the micro-structural changes associated with high strength and durable concrete have a direct impact on the autogenous shrinkage of concrete. Hence, the author suggests that autogenous shrinkage should be investigated and allowable values be stipulated as design criterion in structures that use high strength-high performance concrete.

Conventional glass ionomer cements (GICs), which continue to gain acceptance as superbly biocompatible dental materials, were first released in the early 1970s as a result of research into combining the advantages of silicate cements and polyalkenate cements. The chemistry of GICs is based upon the aqueous reaction between an ion-leachable fluoride glass and polyacid which yields the final cross-linked insoluble ionomer (ionic polymer). The significant advantages of GICs include direct adhesion to tooth structures, fluoride release, minimal dimensional change on curing, significant ease of use and superb biocompatibility, to the extent that affected proximal tooth structures may be retained, remineralised , and strengthened against further caries. GICs have, however, been unfavourably compared with other restorative materials in their mechanical properties and setting characteristics, in particular their relative weakness, the time limitations for the acid-base reaction to proceed to acceptable maturity, and the susceptibility of the immature cement to water sorption or desiccation.

Geopolymer chemistry governs the formation of an X-ray amorphous aluminosilicate cement material. Binders form at ambient temperatures from a variety of different raw material sources, including industrial wastes. Early research in this field was based around investigating binder material properties; however, more recently, geopolymer formation chemistry has been intensively studied. Better understanding of the chemical processes governing geopolymer curing reactions will allow a wider variety of waste materials to be utilised and also the tailoring of binder properties for specific applications. (For complete abstract open document).

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001. / "A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Western Sydney." Bibliography: leaves 163 - 170.