The Use of Basalt Rocks in Cement Manufacturing

Abstract

The cement industry is one of the strategic industries that depend on the availability of raw materials and included in its manufacture. In this study, basalt rock was used as a basic component in the cement industry or as a partial substitute for iron and clay, this component works to acquire additional properties of cement in terms of quality and strength. The study showed that the main phase that has an effect on the initial resistance is C₃S tricalcium silicate, responsible for the final strength, while C₃A is responsible for the initial and final doubt time of its interaction with gypsum, C₄AF tetra calcium iron aluminate is responsible for the color of cement and accordingly Libyan and international specifications without exception require that the percentage of dicalcium C₂S be the highest possible to achieve maximum strength after 28 days.

The methodology of the study was to bring large pieces of basalt rock from the field were crushed and grinded and conducted laboratory experiments on them to find out their chemical and mineral components. The study showed that basalt rock contains a good percentage of iron oxide Fe₂O₃, aluminum oxide Al₂O₃, which is close to the components used in the cement industry, from the work of several mixtures to manufacture clinker, the main component of cement, and the results of the analysis of the phases or the four compounds were good, except for the phase of calcium trisilicate C₃S were low, which hurt the early strength decreased, meaning that the initial compressive strength after 3 days was low for cement mixtures containing basalt due to low C₃S, while the compression strength after 28 days for this cement was high and was better than ordinary cement and also had high heat strength.