Proceedings

in civil engineering

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Mechanochemical Activation of
the C-S-H binder Celitement

Daniel Hinder1 | Adrian Zimmermann1 | Marc Fylak2

Correspondence Abstract

Daniel Hinder The hydraulic binder Celitement is produced by a mechanochemical activation of an

Celitement GmbH & Co. KG
Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Pl. 1
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Email: d.hinder@celitement.de
1
Celitement GmbH & Co. KG,
Karlsruhe, Germany
2
Schwenk Zement GmbH & Co.
KG, Ulm, Germany
X-ray amorphous CSH phase. This process step not only chemically activates the
material, but also reduces its specific surface area. Thus, both strength and worka-
bility of Celitement based systems can be controlled. In this paper the effect of the
duration of the activation milling on chemical and microstructural changes of Celi-
tement is focused. Therefore ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetry, Heatflow
Calorimetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy and BET (N2) specific surface area meas-
urements are used aside classical experiments on the flow spread and compressive
strength of Celitement based mortars. As a result, it is shown that micro structural
changes and chemical activation occur already at the beginning of the activation
milling and significantly influence the practical performance of mortars.

Keywords

Mechanochemical activation, C-S-H, Celitement, Alternative binder, IR Spectros-

copy, Thermogravimetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy

1 Introduction Germany) is in progress. Thus, Celitement left behind the

The hydraulic binder Celitement is designed to form a
maximum output of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) [1].
In classic cement-based systems, this phase is not only
known to be essential for strength, but it also exhibits ex-
cellent durability properties, and this is equally true for
Celitement. In Celitement based systems damaging reac-
tions like ettringite and thaumasite formation or an alkali
silica reaction (ASR) can largely be excluded, while rein-
forcing steel is protected against corrosion due to a pH
value of about 12.7 in combination with a very dense mi-
crostructure of the hydration product. The strength devel-
opment of Celitement is comparable to a classic CEM I
42.5 R to 52.5 N while its heat of hydration is less than
140 J/g [2] and thus far below VLH cements.
These special properties and its high brightness index, no
efflorescence, etc. make Celitement beneficial for numer-
ous applications, from dry mortars (plasters, screeds, self-
leveling fillers, restoration mortars, jointing mortars) to
precast applications (structural components, facade pan-
els, railroad sleepers) and ready-mix concretes (mass con-
crete, road pavements). Currently, up to five tons per
week of Celitement are produced in a pilot plant near to
Karlsruhe (Germany) to serve the development of the
above listed products and thus to prepare the market for
a first 50000 tons per year industrial reference plant. The
European REACH registration has already been concluded
in 2018 and a general building inspectorate approval (for
laboratory scale and is currently being tested in industrial
scale applications.
In the past years, pure C-S-H binders faced the difficulty
that they absorbed large amounts of additional water, and
as a result, workability did not meet practical requirements
[3]. This problem was solved by the innovative manufac-
turing process of Celitement. In a first step a quartz sand,
and calcium hydroxide are mixed in a molar calcium to
silicon (C/S) ratio of 1.0 – 1.4 and autoclaved at about
200 °C and saturated steam pressure to form an X-ray
amorphous Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH). In a second
step this non-hydraulic synthesis product from the auto-
clave is activated mechanochemically by means of a spe-
cial milling process at a maximum temperature of about
200 °C [4][5][6][7]. The resulting activation product
(Celitement) is based on so called hydraulic Calcium Hydro
Silicates (hCHS) aside some residual non-activated syn-
thesis product and inert minor components from the raw
materials (e.g. unreacted quartz, feldspars) [8]. During
hydration hCHS forms an X-ray amorphous C-S-H phase
with a very dense reticular microstructure [9], which may
be equal to the well-known type 2 C-S-H [10].
All relevant parameters for the application of Celitement
like mortar or concrete consistency, setting time, strength
development, and final strength development can be con-
trolled by mechanochemical activation and choice of the
C/S ratio. During a classical mechanochemical process, the

© 2023 Ernst & Sohn GmbH. ce/papers 6 (2023), No. 6

https://doi.org/10.1002/cepa.2906 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cepa 54
55

material passes three steps [11][12]: (i) In the so-called grinding time during activation milling on the properties
Rittinger zone, it is fragmented, and the specific surface and performance of Celitement was systematically inves-
area increases. (ii) In a second step, the primary particles tigated. A pilot mill with a grinding chamber volume of 300
agglomerate while there is only an insignificant change in liters was used.
the specific surface area. (iii) In the final third step, the
chemical activation takes place, which correlates with a To monitor the changes in Celitement material during the
decrease in the specific surface area. The mechanochemi- pre-grinding, activation milling and subsequent hydration
cal activation in the case of Celitement differs from this stages, an array of different analytical techniques was em-
classic process description. In the case of Celitement the ployed (Table 1). The selected methods allow to analyze
specific surface area decreases from the beginning of the the particle morphology, follow chemical and mineralogical
activation milling, and this indicates that microstructural changes in the different phases and asses the resulting
changes and a chemical activation occur already in the Rit- reactivity of the material or determine the amount of other
tinger zone. Gelpores become densified, hydroxyl groups components and especially different types of water and
are protonated by H+ ions and leave the system as water hydroxyl groups.
and thus new bonds to the silica chains get released, which
enable a hydraulic reaction. During the whole process the To determine practically relevant performance parame-
specific surface area decreases from >100 m2/g of the ters, mortars were made following the European standard
synthesis product to about 10 m2/g of the final product DIN EN 196-1. Deviating from this a water to binder (w/b)
(Celitement). Thus, the physical water demand is strongly ratio of 0.40 instead of 0.50 was used to consider water
reduced and the workability in Celitement based systems resp. hydroxyl groups which are already contained in Celi-
can be controlled by using common dosages of conven- tement even before water is added. The amount of “water”
tional PCE superplasticizers. To give an understanding of in Celitement sums up to about 7% of the Celitement
these basic processes, this paper focuses on the influence mass, as determined by TGA at a temperature up to
of the activation milling on microstructural and chemical 600 °C. Thus, the effective w/b ratio of the Celitement
changes of Celitement. mortars made in this study is about 0.50 and therefore can
be directly compared to Portland cement based standard
2 Experimental mortars. Furthermore, the PCE-based superplasticizer
MasterGlenium ACE 40 (Master Builders Solutions) is
The materials focused on in this study can be divided into added at a dosage of 1.0% of the binder mass. This is
three groups: necessary because Celitement has a larger specific surface
area compared to classical cements, resulting in a higher
(i) Synthesis product (pre-product within the physical water demand (s. Section 3.1). Furthermore, the
production process of Celitement) is an X- flow spread of mortars was determined with a Hägermann
ray amorphous and hydraulic inert CSH cone 5 minutes after water addition in accordance with
phase, produced by an autoclave process. DIN EN 1015-3.
(ii) Activation product (Celitement) is the syn-
thesis product after a mechanochemical Table 1 Analytical methods used to characterize the different stages
treatment, which is mainly based on X-ray of Celitement Material.
amorphous hydraulic active hCHS. Method Instrument Synthesis Activation Hydration
(iii) Hydration product (Celitement paste) is the Product Product Product
activation product after hydration, which is
an X-ray amorphous C-S-H phase. ATR-FTIR Bruker, x x x
Spectroscopy alpha II
In this study samples include the synthesis product, pre-
ground product, which was created by a low energy run in Thermo- Netzsch, x x x
the mill, and activation product after different durations of gravimetry Tarsus F2
activation milling were analyzed. The study also contains
four samples of hydration product, which were created Heatflow TA Instrum., x
from the synthesis product, the pre-ground product and Calorimetry TAM Air
two different activation products. From these samples
Laser- Malvern, x
pastes with high w/b ratio (0.7) were prepared and sub- granulometry Masters. 2000
sequently dried at 105 °C after seven days of hydration.
The resulting material was carefully ground by hand. SEM Zeiss, x x
EVO MA 10
For the activation milling a dry horizontal agitator bead
mill from Netzsch Trockenmahltechnik was used for this Cryo-SEM Zeiss, Supra 55 x
study. This type of mill has been developed in recent years VP; Leo Gemini
and various variables and modes of operation influencing 1530 VP
the results are tested and scientifically evaluated [13][14].
Spec. Surface Anton Paar, x x
Dry agitator bead mills are already used sporadically in the BET (N2) Nova 800
building materials industry, so far exclusively for fine
grinding. However, they are also suitable for the mecha- Strength acc. to x
nochemical activation of C-S-H binders. A large number of Testing & DIN EN 196-1,
parameters can be varied in this milling system (e.g. type Workability DIN EN 1015-3
and size of grinding media, rotation speed, feed rate, tem-
perature, air flow). In this study, the influence of the
 56

a) b)

c) d)

Figure 1 SEM images of Celitement binder (magnification 2000): a) Synthesis product (hand crushed), b) Pre-grinding, c) 15 min milling,
d) 60 min milling.

3 Results and Discussion With activation milling (c), the energy input increases sig-
nificantly, and the particle size is greatly reduced. Primary
3.1 Changes in the particle morphology during ac- particles with a size of about 300 – 500 nm are produced.
tivation milling These form agglomerates of a few µm in size or agglom-
erate on remaining coarse particles. In the further course
The synthesis product consists of large particles with a of the activation milling up to 60 min (d), agglomeration
highly porous microstructure and therefore possesses a continues. The fines content of the material is reduced,
very large specific surface area with values up to more and the particle size increases slightly.
than 100 m²/g as can be indicated by means of the initial
heat flow of calorimetry experiments and BET (N2) surface
measurements. This high specific surface area is continu-
ously reduced during activation milling (Figure 2). Only 15
minutes of activation milling are necessary for area and
heat flow to drop down to about 10% of their initial values.
By increasing the milling time these values can be de-
creased even further and the samples reach a specific sur-
face area of 7 m²/g and a maximum heat flow during sur-
face wetting of less than 3 µW/g (Table 2). This indicates
a microstructural change of the material right from the be-
ginning of the milling process and thus a contribution of
activation even before the Rittinger zone and agglomera-
tion have been completed. Figure 2 Maximum heat flow of surface wetting (red triangle) and spe-
cific surface area measured by nitrogen sorption (blue circle) after dif-
The processes of fragmentation and agglomeration can ferent times of activation milling.

also be observed using SEM images (Figure 1). The hand

crushed synthesis product (a) shows comparatively coarse When comparing mean particle size and specific surface
particles with sharp-edged fragments. Pre-grinding (b) re- area during the activation milling process, a different be-
sults in smaller rounded particles. The proportion of fines haviour is observed. The specific surface area decreases
increases significantly compared to the synthesis product. with longer milling times, the mean particle size however
57

Figure 3 Evolution of the mean particle size (green square) and spe-
Figure 4 TGA curves of synthesis, pre-grinding and milling samples.
cific surface are (blue circle) during activation milling.

reaches a minimum after 15 minutes of milling (Figure 3).

This behaviour of particle size and specific surface area is
typical for mechanochemical activation. After 15 minutes
of milling the Rittinger zone is completed, which means
the particle fragmentation stops and the agglomeration of
primary particles becomes decisive. After 45 minutes of
milling the mean particle size stops increasing. This indi-
cates a limitation of the particle size by the heat and en-
ergy input of the mill, making larger agglomerates to un-
stable to exist for long.

Particle morphology, especially the specific surface area

available for physical water consumption, is the determin- Figure 5 DTG curves of synthesis, pre-grinding and milling samples.

ing factor for the workability of the material. This can be

followed by use of the flow spread diameter of a mortar water, which is evaporated until approximately 600 °C, in
sample, measured by use of a Hägermann cone. The the sample decreases with milling time. This affects mainly
spread diameter increases with decreasing specific surface the weakly bound water, which evaporates at lower tem-
area and decreasing heat flow of surface wetting (Ta- perature. Meanwhile the amount of CO2, starting to be
ble 2). As a result, the workability of the product can be evaporated above 600 °C increases because of carbona-
controlled by milling time. tion of the sample by the cooling air in the mill. The TGA
curves also provide an idea of the rising temperature in
Table 2 Workability of the material determined by use of the Häger- the mill by use of the onset of the mass loss.
mann method on mortar samples (acc. to DIN EN 1015-3; w/b = 0.4
and addition of 1% superplasticizer). Thermogravimetry data are also able to provide insights
Sample Surface Heat Hägermann flow Hägermann flow about the way water and CO2 are bound by different
area flow of spread diameter spread diameter phases in the sample. By using derivative thermogravim-
(BET) wetting with shocks etry curves, the different temperatures at which water
[m²/g] [mW/g] [cm] [cm] evaporates can be identified (Figure 5). Despite drying af-
ter the autoclavation resp. before activation milling starts,
Pregrinding 46 17 Not measurable Not measurable the product still contains some free water, being evapo-
rated at temperatures up to 100 °C. Afterwards the struc-
15 min 16 6 11 17
turally bound water gets evaporated in the dehydration
30 min 14 5 10 16 process. At about 450 °C dehydroxylation of calcium hy-
droxide takes place. The mechanochemical activation can
45 min 9 5 11 17 be followed by the changes in the dehydration region. Here
the amount of mass loss due to dehydration up to 250 °C,
60 min 12 3 14 19 attributed to synthesized CSH, decreases with milling. The
mass loss due to dehydration of hCHS in the activated
90 min 8 2 13 19
product above 250 °C increases with activation milling and
is sensitive to the temperature inside the mill. Therefore,
Final 7 2 20 24
the increase of material temperature with milling time is
detrimental to the hCHS amount in the final product.

It is worth to mention, that the milling also shows an effect

3.2 Changes of the degree of chemical activation
during activation milling
In addition to the particle morphology the chemical struc-
ture of the synthesis product is changed by the milling pro-
cess. This is evident by thermogravimetry data of the sam-
ples, which allows to measure the amount of water and
CO2 bound by the material (Figure 4). Here the amount of
on the carbonates in the sample, despite calcium car-
bonate not being a key component of Celitement. The cal-
cium carbonate present in the synthesis product shows a
mass loss at around 720 °C whereas the main mass loss
attributable to CO2 in activated samples is at approxi-
mately 860 °C. This is due to destruction of the initial
structure and due to carbonatization of the highly reactive

Figure 6 ATR-FTIR absorbance spectra of synthesis, pre-grinding and
milling samples.
Figure 7 ATR-FTIR difference spectra of pre-grinding and milling in
relation to the synthesis product.
activated material. These two effects offer additional pos-
sibilities to monitor the influence of the milling energy on
the sample as well as the hydraulic reactivity of the acti-
vated material.
Another method to monitor changes in the chemical com-
position of the material during the activation process is
ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The spectra are dominated by
broad bands in the regions from 400 – 600 cm-1 and 800
– 1200 cm-1 (Figure 6). These bands stem from different
Si-O bending and Si-O stretching vibrations and consist of
multiple peaks, depending on the connectivity of the silica
tetrahedrons in the CSH, hCHS and C-S-H chains.
Due to the high similarity of the different materials, the
creation of difference spectra is helpful. These spectra
were created by subtraction of the synthesis product spec-
trum from each of the other samples spectra. To allow a
consistent approach the spectra were first maximized by
setting the peak around 450 cm-1 to the value 1 and the
lowest point between 1200 and 1400 cm-1 to the value 0.
This step was necessary because of the influence of parti-
cle size on signal intensity. The resulting difference spectra
(Figure 7) show almost exclusively growing peaks during
the milling process. This is due to the maximation process,
that focused on the peak around 450 cm-1, belonging to a
bending vibration of Q2 linked silica tetrahedrons. As a re-
sult, changes in the amount of Q2 tetrahedrons in the ma-
terial cannot be followed. Because of the breaking of bonds
within the silica chains during activation milling, the
amount of Q2 silica tetrahedrons is expected to decrease,
while the amount of terminal Q1 silica tetrahedrons in-
creases.
58
The shortening of the silica chains can be followed by sig-
nificant increases of multiple well known Q1 peaks at ap-
proximately 500, 930 and 1010 cm-1 [15]. These peaks
increase during the first 60 minutes of activation milling.
Afterwards there is no longer a significant increase. In ad-
dition to the changes in the C-S-H structure changes in the
carbonate peaks between 1400 and 1500 cm-1 can be
monitored. This might be due to calcite being destroyed in
favor of an amorphous form of calcium carbonate which
possesses peaks at 866 cm-1 and a double peak with equal
heights at 1418 and 1475 cm-1 [16].
Changes in the microstructure, silica chain length and par-
ticle morphology resulting from activation milling lead to
different hydration behaviors. This can be observed by
heat flow calorimetry. The heat flow profile and total
amount of heat released is a good indicator for the reac-
tivity of the product. Because of the contribution of surface
wetting to the total heat released, it is insufficient to use
a final value to determine reactivity of the activated prod-
uct. This becomes obvious when comparing heat flow
curves (Figure 8). Pre-ground and synthesis material re-
lease most of their heat during the first few hours of hy-
dration and their heat flow curves do not show the typical
hydration peak. After a few hours their heat flow shifts
below the heat flow of the activation milling samples.
Due to their lower and similar specific surface areas, this
is not an issue for the activation milling samples. The sam-
ples milled for 15, 30 and 60 minutes all show a similar
heat flow profile. For these samples the total heat released
(Figure 9) is mostly comparable and can be used to assess
their reactivity. The highest values of total heat are ob-
tained by the samples milled for 15 and 30 minutes.
Therefore, the longest milling time should not necessarily
achieve the highest compressive strength (s. Section 3.3).
Figure 8 Heat flow curves of synthesis, pre-grinding and milling sam-
ples during the first 24 hours of hydration.
Figure 9 Heat curves of synthesis, pre-grinding and milling samples
during the first 60 hours of hydration.
59
Figure 10 TGA curves of dried samples after 7 days of hydration.
Figure 11 DTG curves of dried samples after 7 days of hydration.
Figure 12 Comparison of DTG curves of hydrated samples and sam-
ples of the original material.
To take a closer look at the hydration process some sam-
ples were hydrated for 7 days and then dried at 105 °C.
When evaluating the thermogravimetry data from these
samples, they show a surprisingly similar amount of water
and CO2 content, regardless of the material they were cre-
ated with (Figure 10). This is indicating a high reactivity of
the activated material leading to a high degree of hydra-
tion. They contain significantly more water than the acti-
vated samples (Figure 4) and slightly more CO2. This is a
result of the less aggressive drying process and CO2 intro-
duced during the mixing of the sample.
While the overall mass loss is quite similar for these four
samples, their DTG curves allow to identify a few differ-
ences (Figure 11). The hydrated synthesis and pre-ground
material show only slight changes in comparison to the in-
itial samples (Figure 12). These changes are limited to the
area around 200 °C, where the less aggressive drying of
the samples allows the C-S-H phases to contain more
loosely bound water. Another difference is the disappear-
ance of the calcium hydroxide, which was present in the
initial samples.
The samples hydrated from activated material however
show far more differences. They both contain significantly
more water than their original samples, with the 15 minute
sample containing slightly more than the 60 minute sam-
ple. The water seems to be bound similar as in the syn-
thesis and pre-ground samples with the area around
450 °C being an exception. This indicates that the amount
of C-S-H formed from hydration is roughly the same as the
amount of CSH formed from the synthesis. This newly
formed C-S-H however contains a more amorphous cal-
cium hydroxide, as evident by the broad mass loss peak
from 400 to 500 °C. Another big difference between the
activated and their hydrated samples is the way CO2 is
bound. The calcium carbonate resulting from the activa-
tion milling seems to dissolve almost completely. The total
amount of CO2 in those samples however does not change
much as the hydrated samples show more CO2 evapora-
tion at lower temperatures.
When evaluating the IR spectra of the hydrated samples
(Figure 13) the similarity between the spectra is even
more striking than with the TG curves. This confirms the
notion, that the activated samples form almost the same
amount of C-S-H, as CSH was turned into hCHS by activa-
tion milling. The samples are dominated by peaks of the
spectra at 450 and 960 cm-1, belonging to Q2 silica tetra-
hedrons [15]. This confirms a healing process of the short-
ened C-S-H chains.
As a result of this process the amount of Q1 silica tetrahe-
drons relative to Q2 silica tetrahedrons in the samples
must decrease. Difference spectra can help to identify the
changes in the material during hydration. They are created
Figure 13 ATR-FTIR absorbance spectra of dried samples after 7 days
of hydration.
Figure 14 ATR-FTIR difference spectra of dried samples after 7 days
of hydration in relation to the samples before hydration.
 60

by subtraction of the spectrum of the initial sample from

the hydrated sample, as performed in previous work on
C3S hydration [17].

In the difference spectra negative peaks at 510, 900 and

1005 cm-1 are observed. The peak at 510 cm-1 is a result
of the bending vibration of Q1 silica tetrahedrons, while the
peak at 1005 cm-1 belongs to a stretching vibration of Q1
silica tetrahedrons. The origin of the peak at 900 cm-1 is
unknown and might be a result of the overlapping of a
known Q1 peak at 930 cm-1 with the developing Q2 band
at 960 cm-1. The formation of more Q2 silica tetrahedrons
due to condensation of Q1 tetrahedrons from hCHS can
also be observed by the growth of the peak associated with
Q2 bending vibrations at 445 cm-1.

The difference spectra also allow monitoring changes in

Figure 16 Cryo-SEM image of a Celitement paste (w/b = 0.50) after
the calcium carbonate phase. All samples seem to change 24 h of hydration, magnification 10.000.
from an amorphous form of calcium carbonate towards
calcite. This is indicated by the rising peaks at 713 and
873 cm-1 as well as the changes in the peaks between
1400 and 1500 cm-1. The overall amount of calcium car-
bonates however, only increases in the hydration product
of the synthesis material, which is in agreement with the
results from TGA.

3.3 Practical performance and microstructure of

hydrated Celitement systems

The main practical performance parameters of mortars are

the workability of the fresh system as measured by flow
spread with a Hägermann cone in accordance with
DIN EN 1015-3 and the compressive strength in accord-
ance with DIN EN 196-1. While the results on workability
have already been presented in chapter 3.1, here the in-
fluence of milling time on the compressive strength is
shown (Figure 15). Within the first 15 minutes of activa- Figure 17 Cryo-SEM image of a CEM I 42.5 R paste (w/b = 0.50) after
24 h of hydration, magnification 10.000.
tion milling the compressive strength increases signifi-
cantly. This correlates strongly with the specific surface
With the cryo-SEM technology, water-containing phases
area which decreases during this period (Figure 2). From
and aqueous systems, such as cement paste or mortar,
30 to 60 minutes of milling the early strength decreases
can be investigated by electron microscopy largely without
while the final strength is slightly improved. The final
artefacts [18]. Figure 16 shows a Celitement paste after
strength reaches a maximum after 60 minutes and de-
24 hours hydration. A dense, reticular (type 2) C-S-H
creases when milling is continued. The latter indicates an
structure forms between agglomerates and primary parti-
“over milling”. Due to an increasing temperature inside the
cles. In contrast to the OPC microstructure, in which
mill the hCHS becomes dehydroxylated and thus the con-
C-S-H, Portlandite and ettringite are visible (Figure 17),
tent of the hydraulic reactive component is reduced.
C-S-H is the only hydration product in Celitement. Com-
pared with a classic cement matrix, the structure is signif-
re grin ing icantly finer. The pore entry diameter of a Celitement
min milling
paste after 28 days of hydration is usually below 10 nm
min milling
min milling and thus in the gel pore range. This pore structure signif-
min milling icantly influences the performance of the Celitement sys-
a

min milling
inal
tem and leads to good capillary transport related durability
ive trengt

properties.

4 Summary
om re

In this study the influence of a mechanochemical activa-

d d d
Figure 15 Compressive strength of mortars acc. to DIN EN 196-1; w/b
ratio of 0.40 (1% of PCE superplasticizer). Pre-grinding sample w/b
ratio of 0.50 due to higher physical water demand.
tion of an amorphous CSH phase has been studied. Chem-
ical and microstructural changes have been analysed with
different techniques, depending on the duration of activa-
tion milling. In contrast to classical mechanochemical
models a reduction of the specific surface area and a
chemical activation starts already at the beginning of the
milling process and thus largely before the Rittinger zone
61

is completed. Already after 15 minutes of milling the spe- [9] Garbev, K; Beuchle, G.; Schweike, U.; Stemmer-
cific surface area of the synthesis product (CSH) is reduced mann, P. (2012) Understanding of the Hydration
by about factor 10 and a relevant amount of hydraulic ac- Behaviour and the Resulting Development of the Mi-
tive hCHS phase can be detected by ATR-FTIR. This corre- crostructure of Celitement©, ibausil 2012, 1-26.
lates with a significant reduction of the physical water de- [10] Zhang, Z.; Scherer, W.; Bauer, A. (2018) Morphol-
mand of the particles and thus with an improvement of the ogy of cementitious material during early hydration.
workability and compressive strength of mortars. This Cem. Conc. Res. 107, 85-100.
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about 250 °C. In this temperature range the material de- and mechanical alloying in stirred media mill.
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[12] Pietsch, W. (2005) Agglomeration Processes, in: Pi-
nificantly. By means of ATR-FTIR, it is possible to follow
etsch, W. (Ed.), Agglomeration in Industry, Wiley-
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