Development of Pozzolanic material from clay

The following paper concentrates on the objective of studying the influences of extent of duration and temperature on the Pozzolanic properties as well as reactivity of locally existing natural clay of Nai Gaj, district Dadu, Sindh Pakistan. The activation of the clay only occurs through heating when temperature in a furnace chamber reaches 600, 700 and 800oC for 1, 2 and 3 hours and at 900 and 1000°C for 1 and 2 hours. Furthermore, the strength activity index (SAI) of advanced pozzolanic material happens to be identified through 20% cement replacement for different samples of calcined clay as per ASTM C-618. The compressive strength test of samples had been operated for 7 and 28-days curing afterwards. The maximum compressive strength had been seen in mix E in which cement was replaced with clay calcined at 700°C for 1 hour that is 27.05 MPa that is 24.31% more than that of control mix. The results gathered from the SAI verdicts the optimal activation temperature is 700°C within a one-hour time period. The SAI at a temperature of 700°C with a one-hour duration at 28 days is 124.31% which happens to satisfy the requirements of the new Pozzolanic material, in order to be applied in mortar/concrete (i.e., 75%). The Energy- dispersive spectrometry (EDS) along with the X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been carried out in means of verifying whether there is silica content or amorphous silica present in metakaolin that has been developed. The findings gathered from the SAI were validated, as the analysis of XRD verified that there is in fact Pozzolanic activity of developed metakaolin. Additionally, based on observation, the activated metakaolin holds a significant influence on the increase in mortar’s compressive strength.