Calcium Aluminate Cements - Raw Materials, Differences, Hydration and Properties

High alumina cement was used widely in the UK after World War I, expressing its higher content of aluminum oxide in comparison to Portland cement. Several descriptions of investigations on calcium aluminate cements appeared, starting around 1850, with a first patent field in 1888 (Scrivener and Capmas, in Hewlett 1998). More widely known is the work of Bied (1909, 1926) filing a patent in 1909 for the fabrication of cement using bauxite or some similar aluminum or iron-rich material, with low SiO2-contents and limestone. In 1918, the trade name Ciment Lafarge Fondue was used for the first time. Meanwhile in the USA, Spackman (1908, 1910a,b) developed cementitious material marketed under the name of Alca natural cements. Several patents were applied and granted (Bates 1921). A description of non-Portland cements was given by Muzhen et al. (1992). The reason for looking into alternative cement materials was to develop cements with improved stability against sulfate corrosion. Nowadays, calcium aluminate cements are used specifically for their distinct properties (Brown and Cassel 1977), some of which are presented in Table 1. Calcium aluminate cements do have special applications and are therefore widely used despite the fact that worldwide fabrication is by no means comparable to OPCs (Hohl et al. 1936; Garces et al. 1997; George 1976, 1980a,b, 1983, 1990, 1997; George and Montgomery 1992; George and Racher 1996; Gartner et al. 2002). Scrivener and Taylor (1990) and Scrivener et al. (1997a,b) described calcium aluminate cements and their use and microstructural developments. The use for experimental purposes was described by Auer et al. (1995). Thermal analyses for thermogravimetry of CAC-fraction and formation was discussed by Chudak et al. (1982, 1987). The …