Mechanical Transformation of Fly Ash toward Its Utilization in Cemented Paste Backfill

Fly ash (FA) showed low reactivity when being used to prepare the binder for cemented paste backfill (CPB). In the present work, wet-grinding treatment was used to increase the pozzolanic reactivity of FA and promote its sustainable utilization. The results showed that wet-grinding could be a suitable and efficient technology for FA pretreatment. Wet-grinding strongly modified the structure of FA by decreasing the crystalline phase content and the binding energy of Si 2p and Al 2p, contributing to the increase in pozzolanic reactivity of FA. The performance of CPB samples prepared by wet-ground FA was then optimized. This was reflected by the acceleration in the sample setting and increase in the strength development. The compressive strength of the CPB samples prepared by wet-ground FA for 120 min was increased by around 40% after curing for 28 d compared with the control samples.

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