Preparation of cementitious materials based on thermally activated copper tailings and coal gangue

The activity of copper tailings and gangue were improved by thermal activation, and the copper tailings-based composite cementitious materials were prepared by alkali excitation and their properties were studied. The results showed that the activity of both copper tailings and gangue were improved by high temperature calcination, and the best activation temperatures were obtained as 800 degrees C and 600 degrees C for copper tailings and gangue, respectively. By the dissolution-reconstruction-polymerization-curing reaction, most of the silica-aluminate phase formed the cementitious material after its internal structure particles were no longer uniformly distributed particles, but the surface interlacing, with a certain degree of adhesion of the inhomogeneous granular gel products. The influence of the factors on the compressive strength of the cementitious material: gangue content > water glass content > water glass modulus, under the best conditions, the compressive strength was up to 18 MPa. The alkali resistance was better than the acid resistance.