Hydration mechanism of a cementitious material prepared with Si-Mn slag

A cementitious material was prepared by mixing 80wt% Si-Mn slag powder, 10wt% lime, and 10wt% anhydrite. The compressive strength of mortar samples reaches 51.48 MPa after 28 d curing. The analyses of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that much ettringite is formed in the sample cured for 3 d, and C-S-H gel increases rapidly during subsequent curing. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis of ²⁹Si and ²⁷Al and infrared spectroscopy (IR) analysis show that aluminum decomposition from tetrahedral network of the slag glass and its subsequent migration and re-combination play an important role in the process of hydration and strength development of the samples.