Synthesis of C3S by sol-gel technique and its features

Sol-gel method is a technique to synthesize inorganic materials based on wet-chemical reaction theory. The results have shown that reactants tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and Ca(NO₃)₂·4H₂O can form sol and gel in solution at 50–60 °C, and the cosolvents are propyl alcohol (NPA) and H₂O, the catalyst is HNO₃. This sol-gel is burned for 12 h at 1 350–1 450 °C so that the organic matter, free water (moisture) in sol-gel system are removed and a solid reaction has taken place to form the resulting product. The product has been confirmed to be C₃S by XRD, SEM and ²⁹Si MAS NMR, as well as free lime content of the product which is less than 0.2% was determined by propanetriol-ethanol-method. The analysis determined by EDXA has indicated that the n(Ca)/n(Si) ratio in corresponding to micro-region is close to theoretical value of 3:1. This resulting product is C₃S with Si sites of Q⁰ polymerization, and has higher purity and hydraulic activities at earlier age of hydration.