Cement Clinker: Uses, Attributes, and Important Facts You Need to Know
Cement clinker is a byproduct of cement production. This material is obtained through a chemical process that produces cement clinker. The byproduct is then converted into a usable material for the manufacturing of Portland cement. Further, this material can be processed in different ways to produce the cement clinker.
Cement Production
The production of cement follows clinkering process. This procedure involves heating the raw materials to a temperature of 1450 degrees Celsius or higher in either rotary kilns or vertical shaft kilns. In this step, the raw mix undergoes several physical and chemical changes that render it into hard substance known as clinkers. These are cooled and ground with gypsum in order to produce Portland cement.
Cement clinker is a material produced through the calcination of limestone at high temperatures. It is used to make cement and other related products.
As a finished product, cement clinker can be ground and mixed with a range of additives, including gypsum, in order to create cement. Once this process has taken place, it is referred to as Portland cement and can be used in construction applications.
Cement Clinker: Uses, Attributes, and Important Facts You Need to Know
Cement clinker refers to the aggregate formed by the calcination of cement raw materials. Cement clinkers are typically dark grey in color and have a very small size. They are generally spherical in shape and form nodules up to a maximum of 100 mm in diameter.
The cement clinkers that have been ground into fine powder and mixed with gypsum will harden when water is added to it. The presence of gypsum helps prevent the clinker from re-hardening too soon after it has been formed. When cement clinkers are ground into a fine powder, they are known as Portland cement.
Cement clinker is manufactured by heating the mixture of limestone and clay at a high temperature for about 1500°C, then cooling it at around 150°C to 200°C. This process results in the formation of nodular lumps that are known as cement clinkers or Portland cement clinkers.
Cement clinker is a semi-finished material, which is obtained by calcinating raw material, limestone and argillaceous rocks at high temperature. The calcination process is in general carried out in rotary kilns, where the clinker obtains its characteristic black color.
Cement clinker is mainly used to manufacture Portland cement but it can also be used as an additive in cement manufacturing. Clinker is available in the form of sticks and lumps of various sizes. Clinker has low carbon content and therefore generates less CO2 during cement production than other raw materials, such as limestone or shale.
Clinker is a major component of grey and white cement as well as blended cements such as Portland blast furnace slag cement (PBFS) and PPC (Portland pozzolanic cement). Other components of blended cements are fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag and natural pozzolanas such as pumice.
The cement clinker is a greenish-grey sphere that is between 0.8cm and 2.0cm in diameter. The clinker is composed of the same minerals as the raw material. The cement clinker consists of spherical granules, a few millimeters in diameter, with a narrow size distribution.
Hydration of the clinker minerals results in the formation of hydrates or cement minerals that are responsible for the properties of hardening and strength development in concrete.
Cement clinker is produced in rotary kilns at high temperatures from a mixture of limestone/chalk, clay and iron ore (iron ore being used as a natural flux).
The particle size distribution of Portland cement clinker powder, as determined by sieve analysis, is considered to be “overlapping” when the particles have an average size greater than 0.5mm and the range of sizes extends from about 0.1mm to about 5mm.
Cement Clinker is the semi-finished material that comes out of the cement kiln after the burning process. It is a brittle, hard gray-black rock like substance.
Clinker is a combination of four mineral compounds. They are combined to produce portland cement. The four mineral compounds are: alite, belite, tricalcium aluminate, and brownmillerite.
The main purpose of clinker is to produce portland cement. It can be ground with gypsum and other materials to produce Portland cement or ground into a fine powder and blended with other materials to create many different types of cements.
Cement clinker is usually crushed and used as an additive in cement production.
Clinker is the main ingredient in cement, and the amount used is directly proportional to the CO2 emissions generated in cement manufacturing, due to both the combustion of fuels and the decomposition of limestone in the clinker production process. From 2014 to 2018, the clinker-to-cement ratio increased at an average of 1.6% per year, reaching an estimated 0.70 in 2018; this rise has been attributed to the global increase in the use of blended cements. Clinker is also used as an ingredient in other construction materials, such as concrete, asphalt and mortar.
Clinker can be traded internationally in large quantities but most of it is produced and consumed close to where it is made due to high transportation costs. As a result, clinker trade is often limited to import/export procedures involving shipments by sea or barge.