Ye'elimite

Ye'elimite

Ye'elimite (white) intergrown with Hydroxylellestadite (reddish-brown) in grey Anhydrite from Ronneburg, Thuringia, Germany (Picture size 6 mm)
General
Category Sulfate mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)		 Ca4(AlO2)6SO4
Strunz classification 7.BC.15
Crystal system Isometric
Crystal class Gyroidal (432)
H-M Symbol: (432)
Space group I4132
Unit cell a= 18.392 Å; Z = 16
Identification
Color White, Gray
References [1]

Ye'elimite is the naturally occurring form of calcium sulfoaluminate, Ca4(AlO2)6SO4. It gets its name from Har Ye'elim in Israel in the Hatrurim Basin west of the Dead Sea where it was first found in nature.[2][3]

The mineral is cubic, with 16 formula units per unit cell, and a cell dimension of 1.8392 nm, and is readily detected and quantified in mixtures by powder x-ray diffraction.[4]

Occurrence in cement

It is alternatively called "Klein's Compound", after Alexander Klein of the University of California, Berkeley, who experimented with sulfoaluminate cements around 1960, although it was first described in 1957 by Ragozina.[5] Ye'elimite is most commonly encountered as a constituent of sulfoaluminate cements,[6] in which it is manufactured on the million-tonne-per-annum scale. It also occasionally occurs adventitiously in Portland-type cements.[7] On hydration in the presence of calcium and sulfate ions, it forms the insoluble, fibrous mineral ettringite, which provides the strength in sulfoaluminate concretes.

It is manufactured by heating the appropriate quantities of finely-ground alumina, calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate to around 1000-1100°C, preferably in the presence of small quantities of fluxing materials. On heating above 1350°C, it begins to decompose to tricalcium aluminate, calcium oxide, sulfur dioxide and oxygen.

References

  1. ↑ Mineralienatlas.de
  2. ↑ Handbook of Mineralogy
  3. ↑ Mindat.org
  4. ↑ H F W Taylor, Cement Chemistry, Academic Press, 1990, ISBN 0-12-683900-X, pp 51-54
  5. ↑ G C Bye, Portland Cement 2nd Ed, Thomas Telford, 1999, ISBN 0-7277-2766-4, p 206
  6. ↑ P C Hewlett (Ed), Lea's Chemistry of Cement and Concrete, 4th Ed, Arnold, 1998, ISBN 0-340-56589-6, pp 447-449
  7. ↑ A E Moore, Cement Technology, 7 (1976) pp 85, 134
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