Hydrothermal synthesis of xonotlite from carbide slag

Carbide slag was used as the calcareous materials for the first time to prepare xonotlite via dynamic hydrothermal synthesis. The effects of influential factors including different calcination temperatures, pretreatment methods of the carbide slag and process parameters of hydrothermal synthesis on the microstructure and morphology of xonotlite were explored using XRD and SEM techniques. The results indicate that the carbide slag after proper calcination could be used to prepare pure xonotlite; and different calcination temperatures have little effect on the crystallinity of synthesized xonotlite, but have great impact on the morphology of secondary particles. The different pretreatment methods of the carbide slag pose great impact on the crystallinity and morphology of secondary particles of xonotlite. Xonotlite was also synthesized from pure CaO under the same experimental conditions as that prepared from calcined carbide slag for comparison. Little amount of impurities in carbide slag has no effect on the mechanism of hydrothermal synthesizing xonotlite from carbide slag. (C) 2008 National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science in China Press. All rights reserved.