Cement is one of the most important raw materials for building construction. The cement clinker, also called raw material, is an essential part of the production process. It is produced by mixing limestone and clay and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln.
As a result, the purest type of clinker can be found in this stage. The cement clinker is then ground into cement powder with a certain amount of gypsum added to control the setting time of cement.
What’s special about this material?
The cement clinker is used as a binder in concrete and mortar production or as a filler in the manufacture of brick and other building materials. Cement clinkers are therefore indispensable for every construction project.
What is the difference between cement clinker and Portland cement?
Cement clinkers are not to be confused with Portland cement, which comprises gypsum, silica sand and other minerals as additives to increase strength and resistance.
What makes this material so valuable? Cement clinkers are mainly produced from limestone, clay, sand and iron ore. In particular, the clay used is usually rich in kaolin because it acts like a catalyst for the calcination process.
Clinker materials have been used in construction for thousands of years. It is a byproduct of the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas which are burned to provide electricity. These materials are known as cement clinkers and they are made from limestone or other materials like clay. They are mixed with water and then heated to a temperature of about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit until they become hard enough to form into bricks or blocks. These bricks or blocks can then be used for building walls or floors. The main advantage of using clinker materials instead of ordinary concrete is that they require less maintenance because they do not need any special care like painting and sealing every few years.
Clinker materials can also be used in place of brickwork when building houses. Instead of using regular bricks, which take up space inside your house, you could use clinker bricks instead. This would save money on heating costs because the heat generated by burning these materials will keep your home warm without having to turn on any heating equipment at all! Another advantage is that clinker bricks do not need any special care like painting and sealing every few years either; all you need is some water every once in a while when cleaning them off with a sponge so no one gets hurt from falling down due to slippery
There are a variety of clinkers in the market. Below is a list of some clinkers and their uses:
1. Aluminous Clinker- This clinker has a high percentage of aluminium oxide and a low percentage of iron oxide. It is used for making Portland cement.
2. Argillaceous Clinker- This clinker has a high percentage of silica, alumina and iron oxide. It is mainly made up of shale or clay mixed with limestone.
3. Belite Clinker- This clinker contains an amount of Belite (C2S) which is more than 40%. It is composed mostly of limestone, clay, sand and iron oxide.
4. Brown-Meal Clinker- This clinker contains a mixture of various oxides such as alumina, lime, iron oxide and magnesia etc. The proportion of iron oxide in this is more than that in the ordinary Portland cement.
5. Calcium Aluminate Clinker- This clinker contains calcium aluminate (CA) that can form cements with special properties that are resistant to alkaline conditions, e.g., resistance to sulphate attack, water tightness when exposed to water under pressure for long periods etc.
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Cement, concrete and clinker play an important role in the construction industry. The cement is a fine powder made up of calcined limestone and clay. Clinker is a granular substance obtained by sintering limestoneand aluminosilicate materials such as clay during the cement kiln stage.
Clinkers are granular products formed by heating limestone and clay to very high temperatures. In their raw form, clinkers are lumps or nodules produced by sintering limestone and alumino-silicate impurities during the cement kiln stage. When ground with gypsum, they form Portland cement.
Portland cement is one of the most commonly used types of cement in the world. It consists of clinkers that consist of four mineral compounds: tricalcium silicate, dicalcium silicate, tricalcium aluminate and tetracalcium aluminoferrite. The percentage proportion of each type of compound is responsible for different properties in the finished cement product. For example, when more tricalcium silicate is present in the mixture, it makes it more resistant to chemical attack while the presence of more tricalcium aluminate makes it more resistant to heat in its hardened state.
Although natural clinker deposits vary widely
Clinker is a nodular material produced in the kilning stage during the production of cement and is used as the binder in many cement products. The lumps or nodules of clinker are usually of diameter 3-25 mm and dark grey in color. It is produced by heating limestone and clay to the point of liquefaction at about 1400°C-1500°C in the rotary kiln.
The conventional method for grinding this material is to use a ball mill with steel balls, but this process is power-intensive and not suitable for large-scale applications. For example, the slag produced from blast furnaces is ground using vertical roller mills (VRMs) because they have strengths that, although lower than those of conventional ball mills, are still sufficiently high to grind clinker reliably. In addition, VRM offer better water injection systems, which enables them to reduce power consumption by up to 30% compared with a ball mill when grinding to the same product fineness.
The clinker is finely ground with a small amount of gypsum. The gypsum controls the setting properties of the cement when water is added.
Portland Cement is made by heating limestone and clay or shale to 1450 degrees Celsius in a rotating kiln. The clinker nodules are then cooled and ground down to a fine powder to produce cement. They are typically spherical in shape with diameters between 3mm and 25mm. This powder is the final product known as Portland cement.
Clinker, when added with gypsum can produce Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) which is the most widely used type of cement around the world. OPC is commonly used in concrete, mortar and grout. In concrete, OPC is mixed with aggregates such as sand, natural gravel and crushed stone to form concrete mixes of various consistencies for use in construction works.
Gypsum is an important mineral for the construction of buildings. It is used as a dry powder and mixed with sand, gravel and water to form a mixture that is used as a plaster. It is also used in the production of moulds. Other uses include the manufacture of mortar and concrete. The powder, when mixed with water, sets very rapidly.
When gypsum is heated at 160°C (320°F) it decomposes, giving off water vapour. This process is called calcination. Calcined gypsum (plaster of paris) can be mixed with fibres or other materials to make plaster boards that are used in ceilings and walls in buildings and homes.
The clinkers are dried and ground into fine powder, along with small amounts of calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate. Gypsum may also be added during the grinding process to control the setting time of the cement**