Effect of CaO content in raw material on the mineral composition of ferric-rich sulfoaluminate clinker

Abstract Ferric-rich calcium sulfoaluminate (FR-CSA) cement is an eco-friendly cement. Fe2O3 exists in different minerals of FR-CSA clinker, e.g., Ca4Al2Fe2O10 (C4AF), Ca2Fe2O5 (C2F), and Ca4Al6-2xFe2xSO16 (C4A3-xFx S - ). The mineral composition depends on the chemical composition of the raw materials and significantly determines the reactivity of FR-CSA cement. To optimize the phase composition of the FR-CSA clinker, chemical reagent raw mixtures with different amounts of CaO were used to prepare the FR-CSA clinker. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Rietveld quantitative phase analysis (RQPA), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) were used to identify the mineralogical conditions of the FR-CSA clinker. The results indicated that the amounts of CaO in raw materials greatly affected the iron-bearing phase formation in the FR-CSA clinker. With decreasing CaO content involved in calcination reaction, the amounts of Fe2O3 incorporated in C4A3-xFx S - increased up to 17.72 wt% (where x = 0.36). The findings make it possible to optimize the mineral composition of the FR-CSA clinker by changing the CaO content in raw materials. Furthermore, low CaO content in the raw material is beneficial to the formation of C4A3-xFx S - , which enables the use of solid wastes containing low calcium for producing FR-CSA cement.