Lightweight combustion residues-based structural materials for use in mines. Quarterly report, 1 December 1994--28 February 1995

The overall goal of this project is to develop, design and test artificial supports (post and crib members) for use in mines manufactured from coal combustion by-product (CCB) based lightweight structural materials. The lightweight cement-fly ash grout with density ranging from 70 to 110 pcf has been developed incorporating very high volume (50--60 % of whole solid materials) fly ash. Characterization of individual component materials for the CCB-based structural materials has been performed for Class F fly ash, ASTM Type I cement, lime, silica fume, polypropylene fibers, protein-based foam, water-reducing agents, and calcium chloride. During the past quarter, we emphasized on screening mix designs and establishing mixing and curing procedures. We have demonstrated for the first time that cellular cement-fly ash grout can be developed with very low water: cement ratio (0.32--0.45). After forming, all the samples in the molds were moist cured in a chamber for 24-hours, at 90% relatively humidity (RH) and at 72{degrees}F. They were then demolded and transferred to a low pressure steam chamber (150{degrees}F and 100% RH). After steaming for 24 hours the samples were removed to a moist cure chamber prior to testing