Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials

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Pozzolanic activity of volcanic rocks from Southern

Jiangxi Province, China

Lehua Yu, Shuangxi Zhou & Wenwu Deng

To cite this article: Lehua Yu, Shuangxi Zhou & Wenwu Deng (2015): Pozzolanic activity of
volcanic rocks from Southern Jiangxi Province, China, Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based
Materials, DOI: 10.1080/21650373.2015.1010660

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21650373.2015.1010660

Published online: 16 Feb 2015.

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 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21650373.2015.1010660

Pozzolanic activity of volcanic rocks from Southern Jiangxi Province,

China
Lehua Yu*, Shuangxi Zhou and Wenwu Deng

School of Civil Engineering, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013, China
(Received 6 July 2014; accepted 13 January 2015)

The pozzolanic activity of volcanic rocks from southern Jiangxi Province, China,
was studied in terms of material properties, pozzolanic reaction degree (PRD), and
Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 10:36 10 October 2015

pozzolanic activity index. The pozzolanic activity component of the volcanic rocks
calculated from chemical composition and amorphous phase content was appraised
as a characteristic index of potential pozzolanic activity. The PRD of the volcanic
rock was determined by hydrochloric acid dissolution. The pozzolanic activity index
of the volcanic rocks was evaluated as the ratio of the compressive strength of the
cement mortar blended with volcanic rock to that of a control cement mortar. The
results showed that the volcanic rocks demonstrated great potential for pozzolanic
activity in terms of pozzolanic activity component, PRD, and pozzolanic activity
index, because they have high SiO2 + Al2O3 contents and plentiful amorphous
phases. Finally, a consistent relationship between PRD and pozzolanic activity index
was found.
Keywords: volcanic rock; pozzolanic activity; amorphous phase; chemical composition

1. Introduction of publications on this topic. The produc-

Natural pozzolans have been used for
centuries. Many Ancient Roman, Greek,
and Egyptian pozzolan-lime concrete
structures can still be seen today. How-
ever, pozzolan-lime binders were gradu-
ally replaced by Portland cement-based
binders over the course of the nineteenth
and early twentieth century.[1] Recently,
especially since the second half of the
twentieth century, the addition to Portland
cement of natural or artificial materials to
react with lime to produce a cementitious
product has received much attention. The
potential substitution of Portland cement
by pozzolans to decrease production costs
and to increase the sustainability and
durability of the final product is reflected
in the large and steadily growing number
tion of Portland cement clinker is an
energy-intensive process, in which raw
materials are typically burned at 1450 °C.
Economic benefits can be achieved by
replacing a substantial part of the clinker
with cheap and naturally available pozzo-
lans or industrial by-products. Therefore,
the application of pozzolans possesses
some advantages, such as saving energy
in blended cement production, protecting
the environment, enhancing durability
against various kinds of chemical attack,
and decreasing heat of hydration. With a
decline in the availability of blast-furnace
slags and fly ashes expected, owing to
the application of new processes in steel
and electricity production, Habert et al.
[2] noted that the total percentage of

*Corresponding author. Email: yulehuanc@sina.cn

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

 2 L. Yu et al.
replacement has remained at 20% since
the early 1970s, while the main replace-
ment materials have shifted from slag
and fly ash to limestone in France. The
contemporary cement or concrete industry
faces the challenges of producing less
energy-intensive, more sustainable prod-
ucts without sacrificing the mechanical
strength or durability performance of the
final product.[2] In response, the most
common development with limited inter-
ference to the conventional production
process is the increased use of supple-
mentary cementitious materials or pozzo-
lans with Portland cement. Uzal et al. [3]
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reported the results of preliminary studies
on the structural applications of concrete
mixtures containing a high volume of
natural pozzolan, which was 50% by
mass of total cementitious materials and
included natural zeolite, volcanic tuff,
and perlite.
Mehta and Monteiro [4] gave many
examples of natural pozzolans used in
cement and concrete, such as volcanic
glasses (including Santorin Earth from
Greece and Bacoli Pozzolan from Italy)
and volcanic tuffs (e.g. trass from Rhrin-
land and Bavaria in Germany). A suitable
site would be the Akrotiri settlement at
Santorin (Greece), where there are arche-
ological indications of strong ties with
the Minoan culture and large quantities
of suitable highly siliceous volcanic ash
are present. This so-called Santorin earth
was used as a pozzolan in the Eastern
Mediterranean until recently.[5] Wong
and Askury [6] used tuff from Lawin,
Grik in the Perak State of Malaysia to
generate Portland fly ash cement to be
used in oil well cementing. Pourkhorshidi
et al. [7] summarized the applicability of
the standard ASTM C618 specifications
for the evaluation of natural pozzolans
(including trass, tuff, and pumice) in Iran.
The influence of perlite from Jiangxi
Province, China, on the pozzolanic effect
of concrete and the pore structure of
cement paste was investigated by Yu et al.
[8,9] It was concluded that perlite
possessed good pozzolanic activity and
played the role of subtracting pore volume
and refining pore size to improve the
mechanical strength and durability of
cement-based materials. Toledo Filho
et al. [10] investigated the potential use of
crushed waste calcined-clay brick as a
supplementary cementitious material in
Brazil through mechanical tests, pore
structure characterization, and durability
tests. Sun et al. [11] studied properties of
self-consolidating concrete with recycled
clay–brick–powder replacing partially
Portland cement and fly ash. The results
show that partially replacing cementitious
material with clay–brick–powder could
reduce the workability of the concrete,
increase 28-day and 56-day strength of
the concrete, decrease the shrinkage and
pores of the concrete, and improved the
microstructure of concrete. Wang et al.
[12] examined semi-flowable self-consoli-
dating concrete with 40% fly ash and 15%
metakaolin replacement for cement and
displayed the results that the replacement
of 15% metakaolin for cement improved
flowability, shape-holding ability, com-
pressive strength and freezing–thawing
resistance, and reduced chloride penetra-
tion and free-drying shrinkage. Mertens
et al. [13] conducted a quantitative study
of the pozzolanic reaction of portlandite
and tuffs with different types of natural
zeolites by thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA) from 3 to 180 days. Vessalas et al.
[14] probed the pozzolanic reactivity of
the supplementary cementitious material
pitchstone fines by TGA. Khan and
Alhozaimy [15] confirmed the potential
for utilization of natural pozzolan (volca-
nic tuff) from Saudi Arabia in environ-
mentally friendly concrete on the basis of
tests of the chemical and physical proper-
ties of natural pozzolan, the properties of
fresh and hardened concrete incorporating
natural pozzolanic material as a partial
cement replacement. Uzal and Turanli
[16] described the results of work on
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials
properties and hydration characteristics as
well as the paste microstructure of
blended cements containing 55% by
weight of zeolitic tuff, which was mainly
composed of clinoptilolite mineral.
Shi and Day [17–19] examined the
effects of curing temperature, chemical
activator (Na2SO4 or CaCl2·2H2O), and
environmental humidity on the initial
hardening time, strength and rate of
strength development, hydration, and
pore structure of lime-pozzolan cement
pastes. A fair correlation was revealed
between the strength development of
lime-natural pozzolan cement pastes and
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the fineness of natural pozzolan.[20] The
reaction kinetics, reaction products, and
mechanism of the pozzolanic reaction
resulting from the addition of chemical
activators were further presented.[21,22]
There are many rocks of volcanic ori-
gin distributed in the southern region of
Jiangxi Province, China, which erupted
during the late Mesozoic. The majority of
these rocks are tuff, lava, and laval tuff
with crystal fragments, rock fragments,
or/and brecciated gravel fragments, and
are extrusive igneous silica rocks with an
abundance of SiO2 and Al2O3 in their
chemical composition and with a glassy
texture. They are similar to other natural
pozzolanic materials, such as alumino-sil-
icate glass and pozzolans that can be
used as blended materials in cement or as
mineral admixtures in concrete, when
their particles are ground to mostly under
45 μm.[4]
The aim of the present study was to
evaluate the feasibility and advantages of
the volcanic rocks used as supplementary
binding materials in portland cement-
based materials, such as the other pozzo-
lanic materials fly ash, blast-furnace slag,
condensed silica fume, rice husk ash, and
zeolite. Representative specimens of vol-
canic rocks were collected from a main
volcanic area in southern Jiangxi Prov-
ince. The volcanic rocks were studied in
terms of material properties, pozzolanic
3
reaction degree (PRD), and pozzolanic
activity index. The pozzolanic activity
component of the volcanic rocks
calculated from chemical composition
and amorphous phase content, rather
than chemical composition alone, was
appraised as a characteristic index of
potential pozzolanic activity. The PRD
was determined by hydrochloric acid dis-
solution. The pozzolanic activity index
was calculated as the ratio of the com-
pressive strength of the cement mortar
blended with volcanic rock to that of
a control cement mortar. Finally, the
trend of development of the PRD,
reflecting the chemical reaction proper-
ties, and of the pozzolanic activity index,
expressing the mechanical properties, was
investigated for the volcanic rocks. These
studies have provided further information
on the relationships between the properties
of volcanic rocks and their pozzolanic
activity.
2. Experimental methods
The experimental tests comprised three
parts. In the first part, chemical composi-
tion, vitreous phase content, mineral
species, and rock structure were
quantitatively or semiquantitatively exam-
ined by chemical composition analysis,
petrographic analysis, and X-ray diffrac-
tion (XRD). The pozzolanic activity com-
ponent (calculated from the chemical
composition and the amorphous phase
content) was appraised as an index of
potential pozzolanic activity as quantified
by the reaction with calcium hydroxide
(CH) of material with given particle
sizes. In the second part, the pozzolanic
reaction extent and the contents of CH
and bond water in the pozzolan/cement
paste were quantified by a selective dis-
solution method and differential scanning
calorimetry–thermogravimetry (DSC–
TG), respectively. The hydration progress
of the volcanic rock in the cement paste
was then assessed from the PRD and the
 4 L. Yu et al.
contents of CH and bond water. Thus,
pozzolanic activity of the volcanic rocks
was confirmed from the perspective of a
chemical reaction with cement. In the
third part, pozzolanic activity indices for
the volcanic rocks were tested and calcu-
lated from the ratio of the compressive
strength of the pozzolan/cement mortar to
that of a control cement mortar, providing
further verification of the presence of
pozzolanic activity through mechanical
properties.
2.1. Collection and grinding of
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volcanic rocks
The most important geological event in
the southeast China during the late
Mesozoic was strong tectonic magmatic
activity, with the formation of intermedi-
ate–acid volcanic intrusive rocks as the
main body of the tectonic magmatic belt.
Jiangxi Province is located in the western
part of the tectonic magmatic belt, and the
late Mesozoic volcanic rock series were
widely distributed to form a dozen volca-
nic basins with different sizes, among
which two volcanic belts (south and
north) can be defined according to the
spatial distribution. The specimens used
in this work were collected from the south
volcanic belt (the Xunwu–Longnan–
Quannan–Dinnan volcanic belt), which
includes the scope of the southern Jiangxi
Province. Typical representatives of these
volcanic rocks were collected as speci-
mens in this work, and are listed in
Table 1. Some of them are currently
mined and used as building stones in
road, highway, railway, and building con-
struction and in other applications.
The volcanic rock specimens were
crushed and ground into powder by ball
milling. Pozzolan particle size was con-
trolled in most cases by limiting the
number of particle larger than 45 μm
by using No. 325 sieve. Reactivity has
been found to be directly related to the
quantity passing through this sieve,
because the coarser particles generally
do not react in cement in a reasonable
time.[4] In this experiment, at least
90% of the volcanic rock powder had
to pass through a 45 μm wet sieve. The
powder particle sizes of the specimens
and cement were measured using a
Laser Particle Size Analyzer and are
shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that
there was a little difference in powder
particle size among the volcanic rocks,
and the powder particle sizes of the
volcanic rocks were all smaller than
that of the cement.
2.2. Experimental methods
2.2.1. Chemical composition analysis
The analysis of bulk chemical composi-
tion for the volcanic rocks was performed
by wet chemical analysis, in accordance
with Chinese Standard GB/T14506.28-
2010 (Methods for chemical analysis of
silicate rocks – Part 28: Determination of
16 major and minor elements content).
2.2.2. Petrographic analysis
Observation acquisition was based on the
volcanic rock’s original site, and the pet-
rographic features were determined by
inspection of thin sections under a polar-
izing microscope. The main viewed pro-
grams included estimating the proportion
of vitreous matrix semiquantitatively,
rock structure, the type of porphyritic
bodies (crystal mineral, rock and debris
or breccia) and their proportions.
2.2.3. Powder XRD
Volcanic rock powder XRD was carried
out using a Bruker D-8 X-ray diffractom-
eter (Cu/Kα = 1.54 Å, Ni filter, 40 kV, 40
MA, 2°/min, 2θ = 2°–90°). The results
were used to identify crystalline phase
minerals and to calculate the content of
amorphous phase in the volcanic rock.
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials 5

Table 1. Volcanic rocks and their original location.

No. Specimen Rock Original location
1 NQ Laval tuff with crystal fragments Quarry, Nanqiao Town, Xunwu County
2 CP Laval tuff South End of Changpu Town, Xunwu
County
3 BS Laval tuff with brecciated gravel Quarry, Banshi Town, Anyuan County
fragments
4 CF Laval tuff Quarry, Caifang Town, Anyuan County
5 CZ Laval tuff Zinao Village, Caifang Town, Anyuan
County
6 ZT Tuff with fragments of crystal and Sandpit, Zhantang Town, Huichang
rock County
7 DB Laval tuff with brecciated gravel Bridge, Dabei Town, Ruijin City
fragments
8 LJ Tuff The Linjiaoshan Memorial, Ruijin City
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Figure 1. Powder particle size distribution.

The crystalline mineral species in
volcanic rocks could be identified by
their characteristic diffraction spectral
patterns.
The amorphous phase content of a
volcanic rock can be calculated from the
percentage difference between the total
content and the crystalline phase con-
tent.[23] The latter was obtained from
XRD data by the application of MDI
Jade 5.0 software (Rigaku Company,
Japan). The procedure was as follows.
The background diffraction curve was
first drawn, and the area above this curve
was taken as the integral area of crystal-
line phase. The area below the diffraction
peak curve was taken as the integral area
of the total phase. The content of crystal-
line phase in volcanic rock, also called
crystallinity, was then defined as the crys-
tal phase integral area as a percentage of
the total phase integral area.
XRD is known to provide a semi-
quantitative assessment of crystalline
phase content. The volcanic rocks vary
slightly in Fe content with acidic volcanic
rocks containing 2–3% Fe, so as to avoid
Fe-rich materials resulting in much higher
 6 L. Yu et al.
backgrounds in using Cu/Kα radiation in
XRD experiment. Thereby, these XRD
results were reliable and had considerable
precision. So far, the test results provide
an important reference in the absence of
any better method for determining the
crystalline phase or amorphous phase
contents, except for the quantitative
determination of amorphous phase con-
tent by reference to internal or external
standards.
2.2.4. Preparation of paste for testing
PRD
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The pozzolan/cement pastes were pre-
pared at a ratio of water to cementitious
materials of 0.3. Volcanic rock powder
was used as a direct replacement for
cement on a weight basis at percentages
of 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40%. The prepared
pozzolan/cement pastes were cured in a
moist environment (at 20 °C ± 2 °C) for
one day, and then at a constant tempera-
ture of 20 °C ± 2 °C and a relative
humidity ≥ 90% for 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, 60,
or 90 days until termination of hydration.
The pozzolan/cement pastes were then
immediately soaked in anhydrous alcohol
to halt further hydration, following which
the PRD and contents of bond water and
CH were determined.
2.2.5. Determination of PRD by
hydrochloric acid dissolution
The PRD of volcanic rock in the pozzo-
lan/cement paste was quantified using a
selective dissolution method developed
by Ohsawa et al. [24] The principle of
the procedure is based on the assumption
that the majority of the unreacted pozzo-
lan is acid-insoluble. In a blended cement
paste, the pozzolan reacts with CH to
form acid-soluble hydration products.
Thus, it is possible to dissolve the hydra-
tion products of cement and pozzolans,
and the unreacted cement, leaving the
unreacted pozzolan as an insoluble
residue. The PRD of pozzolan (volcanic
rock) is defined as the proportion of
reacted pozzolan as a percentage of the
initial amount of pozzolan in the pozzo-
lan/cement paste.
The prepared samples were placed in
a vacuum desiccator overnight to remove
anhydrous alcohol and then dried at
60 °C in an oven. To determine the
degree of hydration, the dried samples
were ground into powder and passed
through an 80 μm sieve before the chemi-
cal analysis was performed.
The details of the procedure for deter-
mining the PRD of volcanic rock using
hydrochloric acid dissolution are as fol-
lowing. First, the mass fractions of the
parts of cement and volcanic rock powder
that are insoluble in hydrochloric acid
solution are measured separately. Second,
the sample of pozzolan/cement paste is
divided into two parts. One part is gradu-
ally burned up to 950 °C for 1 h in an
electric furnace. The other part is used in
hydrochloric acid dissolution method for
determining the mass fraction of the
residual volcanic rock that does not par-
ticipate in a pozzolanic reaction in the
pozzolan/cement paste sample. The
ground powder of the pozzolan/cement
paste sample is placed in a hydrochloric
acid solution prepared with hydrochloric
acid and deionized water in a weight
ratio of 1:2 at 40 °C. The residue insolu-
ble in hydrochloric acid is filtered and
dried to a constant weight at 105 °C. The
mass percentage of the volcanic rock that
does not participate in a pozzolanic reac-
tion in the pozzolan/cement paste can be
calculated using the formula given below.
Finally, the mass fraction of the volcanic
rock that does participate in a pozzolanic
reaction (i.e. the PRD) is obtained. The
PRD is given by
WH
 WC;O WC;H
PRD ¼ 1  1WN (1)
WT;O WT ;H
where
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials
WL  L C
WN ¼ (2)
1  LC
m0  m950
WL ¼ (3)
m0
Lc ¼ ð1  WT;O ÞLP þ WT;O LT (4)
Here, WC,O and WT,O are the mass frac-
tions (%) of cement and of the volcanic
rock, respectively, in the pozzolan/cement
paste; WH, WC,H, and WT,H are the mass
fractions (%) of material in the pozzolan/
cement paste, of the pure cement, and of
the pure volcanic rock powder, respec-
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tively, that is insoluble in hydrochloric
acid; WN is the mass fraction (%) of non-
evaporable water in the pozzolan/cement
paste; WL is the ignition loss (%) of the
pozzolan/cement paste; m0 and m950 are
the masses (g) of the pozzolan/cement
paste before burning and after calcination
at 950 °C; and LP, LT, and LC are the
ignition losses (%) of the pure cement, of
the volcanic rock powder, and of the
mixture of cement and volcanic rock
powder before pozzolanic reaction,
respectively.
2.2.6. Determination of bond water and
CH contents
The contents of bond water and CH in
the pozzolan/cement paste were quantita-
tively measured using DSC–TG. An SDT
Q600 thermogravimetric analyzer and the
Universal Analysis 2000 program (TA
Instruments Company, United States)
were used.
Dehydration of hydrated calcium sili-
cate gel and ettringite in the pozzolan/
cement paste occurs mainly at 50–
400 °C, denoted by Ta. The decomposi-
tion temperature of CH in the pozzolan/
cement paste is 400–550 °C, denoted by
Tb. The CH content is calculated from
the weight loss between 400 and 550 °C,
and is expressed both as a percentage by
weight of the ignited sample and a
7
percentage by weight of the cement in
the sample. Decomposition of the carbon-
ate components of the cement paste and
water decomposition of calcium silicate
gel and late ettringite occur at 550–
770 °C, denoted by Tc, in which the ratio
of the two reactions is currently not accu-
rately known, but on the basis of past
experience, is believed to be 2:1. There-
fore, the contents of bond water and CH
in the cement hydration products can be
calculated according to the following for-
mula [25]:
Content of bond water
Tc 2 Tc
¼ Ta þ Tb þ þ   18 (5)
3 3 44
 
Tb 2 Tc
Content of CH ¼ þ   74
18 3 44
(6)
2.2.7. Pozzolanic activity strength index
and pozzolanic activity index
At a macroscopic level, the impact of
pozzolanic activity of various pozzolans
on cement-based material will be
reflected by mechanical behavior. The
pozzolanic activity strength index (PASI)
is most easily used to evaluate pozzolanic
activity of pozzolans in cement-based
material. The PASI is defined as the ratio
of the compressive strength of the cement
mortar blended with pozzolan (replacing
cement in equal mass) to that of the
cement mortar without pozzolan for the
same standard curing environment and
curing time. In particular, as outlined in
Chinese industry standards JG/T 315-
2011 (Natural Pozzolanic Materials Used
for Cement Mortar and Concrete), the
pozzolanic activity index for pozzolan is
defined as the ratio of the compressive
strength of a pozzolan/cement mortar
with 30% pozzolan to that of cement
mortar. According to this standard, a set
 8 L. Yu et al.
of testing mortars (including three
samples) were prepared by mixing
cement, ISO standard sand, and natural
pozzolan. After molding, the mortar sam-
ples were immediately covered to prevent
evaporation and were cured in a moist
environment at 20 ± 2 °C for 24 h. The
mortar samples were then removed from
the molds and cured in a thermostatic
water bath (at 20 ± 2 °C) for 28 or
90 days before strength testing.
For the experiment, the mortars were
made with the ISO standard sand and the
control Portland cement produced by
China United Cement Group Co. Ltd and
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Lucheng Cement Co. Ltd in Shandong
Province. The control Portland cement
was P.I. 42.5 grade, which is a type I
Portland cement with a compressive
strength greater than 42.5 MPa at the
28th day of curing under standard condi-
tions (according to ISO 679).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Pozzolanic activity component
3.1.1. Petrographic features
Natural pozzolans generally contain
pyroclastic rocks. These volcanic rocks
have an evident porphyritic texture with a
50–70% matrix of volcanic ash in a vitre-
ous state according to visual microscopic
inspection. The porphyritic bodies com-
prise fragments of crystal, rock, brecciat-
ed gravel, and glass, together with their
partially melted margins. The majority of
the crystals are classified as quartz and
feldspar minerals, and the majority of the
rocks are classified as acid volcanic
extrusive rocks.
3.1.2. Chemical composition
The results of chemical composition anal-
ysis of the volcanic rocks are listed in
Table 2. They show that the volcanic
rocks are close to a granite or rhyolite
composition and contain high quantities
of SiO2 + Al2O3, with an especially large
amount of SiO2. The total content of
SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 in the specimens
was found to be more than 82%, which
exceeds the minimum requirement (70%)
for natural pozzolans specified in ASTM
C 618 and Turkey Standards TS 25. The
relatively high content of SiO2 + Al2O3
also indicates the acidic character of the
pozzolanic material.
Most natural and artificial supplemen-
tary cementitious materials consist of a
heterogeneous mixture of phases, and
therefore a direct relationship between
overall chemical composition and pozzo-
lanic activity is less obvious. However,
the correlations reported for long-term
pozzolanic activity and/or performance
indicate that the characteristics and distri-
bution of the reaction products should be
related to supplementary cementitious
material chemistry and long-term perfor-
mance. The eventual long-term reaction
products are controlled by the overall
chemistry of the active phases.[27] The
addition of pozzolans (just like blast-fur-
nace slag or metakaolin) has been
observed to change the Ca/Si ratio, silicate
polymerization, and the morphology of
the principal calcium silicate hydrate reac-
tion products, and can thus alter the per-
meability of the reaction product barrier
layer and the eventual performance of the
binder.[28, 29] As the main reaction prod-
ucts are calcium silicate hydrates (with
some incorporation of Al) and calcium
aluminate hydrates (containing additional
Si and Fe), the total SiO2 + Al2O3 +
Fe2O3 content of the active phases may be
considered as an indication of the Ca
(OH)2 binding potential of a supplemen-
tary cementitious material.
From the point of view of chemical
composition, the SiO2 content in pozzolan
has a determining role in the develop-
ment of hydration products when they
react with CH at ambient temperatures.
The chemical composition of natural
pozzolan is stated as 50–67% SiO2 in the
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials 9

German standards DIN 51043. The 3.1.3. Powder XRD result

volcanic rocks employed contained a far
greater proportion of SiO2 than required
by this standard, which implies that they
may provide greater potential for active
SiO2 to initiate the pozzolanic activity
during the second hydration reaction. The
reported chemical data for 150 unaltered
pyroclastic materials and 83 zeolitized
rocks used as natural pozzolanic material
were plotted in a total alkali versus SiO2
diagram on a recalculated 100% volatile-
free basis by Snellings et al. [26] Most
natural unaltered pumices and ashes fall
in the intermediate (52–66 wt.% SiO2) to
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XRD patterns of the volcanic rock
powder used in our work are shown in
Figure 2. The results of identification of
crystalline phase minerals and the calcu-
lation of amorphous phase content are
shown in Table 3.
The volcanic rocks were mainly com-
posed of glassy groundmass, quartz, lab-
radonite, sanidine, and sodium feldspar in
decreasing order of abundance. From the
point of view of crystal mineral genesis,
the rocks contained some silicon alumi-
num minerals formed under high temper-

atures, such as quartz, sanidine, albite,

acid (>66 wt.% SiO2) composition range.
The predominant rock types are dacite
and rhyolite, representing 29 and 21% of
the reported analyses, respectively. The
SiO2 contents of most of the specimens
in the work fell within the above acid
(six specimens) or intermediate (two
specimens) composition ranges summa-
rized by previous investigators, seen in
Table 2.
In these regards, it is noteworthy that
the volcanic rocks employed have higher
proportions both of total SiO2 +
Al2O3 + Fe2O3 and of SiO2. Therefore, it
is suggested that the chemical composi-
tion of these volcanic rocks may provide
a greater potential for pozzolanic activity
in the second hydration reaction.
and potassium feldspar. On the other
hand, the volcanic rocks included an
amorphous phase of no less than 76%.
Volcanic rocks were generated when a
silicon aluminum magma at high tempera-
ture erupted and was rapidly cooled, which
is why such rocks have not only a chemi-
cal composition rich in silicon and alumi-
num, but also an unstable structural state
with high vitreous content. This could also
explain why volcanic rocks have a high
potential for pozzolanic activity.
3.1.4. Pozzolanic activity component
Factors affecting the activity of pozzolan
are the content of SiO2 + Al2O3 +
Fe2O3, the amorphous degree of their

Table 2. Chemical composition of volcanic rocks and cement (% by mass).

No. Specimen SiO2 Al2O3 K2O Na2O CaO MgO Fe2O3 Loss on ignition
1 NQ 74.81 11.15 5.63 2.09 1.39 0.16 1.87 1.71
2 CP 70.04 11.91 4.75 1.14 0.95 0.63 3.55 3.24
3 BS 70.71 13.17 5.16 2.48 1.19 0.48 2.99 3.58
4 CF 60.94 16.46 4.93 3.27 3.71 1.29 4.85 2.13
5 CZ 73.98 12.58 4.85 2.80 0.49 0.26 2.27 1.92
6 ZT 71.26 13.37 1.95 3.09 1.72 1.85 2.87 3.86
7 DB 66.14 13.95 3.98 3.94 2.69 1.16 3.41 3.33
8 LJ 65.06 14.21 3.78 2.88 0.3 0.83 3.82 2.98
9 Cement 25.26 6.38 – 0.56 54.67 2.68 4.05 2.59
10 Dacite [26] 52–66
11 Rhyolite [26] >66
 10 L. Yu et al.
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Figure 2. XRD patterns of volcanic rocks.

Table 3. Powder XRD results.

Amorphous phase Pozzolanic active
No. Specimen Mineral content (%) component (%)
1 NQ Quartz, labradonite, sanidine 76.8 51
2 CP Quartz, labradonite, sanidine 77.4 62
3 BS Quartz, labradonite, sanidine 80.1 53
4 CF Quartz, labradonite, sanidine 76.5 61
5 CZ Quartz, labradonite, sanidine 80.4 54
6 ZT Quartz, albite-potassium 82.2 53
feldspar
7 DB Quartz, microcline, albite– 79.6 58
calciclase (ordered)
8 LJ Quartz, albite–calciclase 86.3 57
(ordered)

structure, and the material particle sizes.
It is known that the pozzolanic activity
of pozzolans depends principally on the
content of active SiO2 and active Al2O3
below certain particle sizes. Thus, to
express the total content of active SiO2
and active Al2O3, a pozzolanic activity
component (PAC) (%) for pozzolans can
be defined as the sum of active SiO2
and active Al2O3, and then calculated as
the product of the (SiO2 + Al2O3)
content (%) and the amorphous phase
content (%) of the volcanic rock as
follows:
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials 11

it was shown that the glassy SiO2 content

PAC ¼ ðSiO2 þ Al2 O3 Þ content
 Amorphous phase content (7)
The SiO2 and Al2O3 contents here
can be obtained from chemical composi-
tion analysis and the amorphous phase
content from XRD data, PAC for pozzo-
lan could be calculated using Equation
(7). PAC declares the proportion of the
composition that exhibits pozzolanic
activity and is able to react during the
second hydration reaction, and provides a
characteristic index of potential pozzola-
nic activity indicating the intrinsic capac-
Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 10:36 10 October 2015
ranged between 45 and 75 wt.%. Mielenz
et al. [31] performed a statistical analysis
of many natural pozzolans that were
usable in the raw state, and concluded
that the best natural pozzolans owed their
activity to volcanic glass with 70–73%
SiO2, with 40–100% being in the form of
rhyolitic glass. According to their results
and Equation (7), the active SiO2 con-
tents of the best natural pozzolans should
be in the ranges between 28 and 73
wt.%. The volcanic rocks used in the
present work had components showing
pozzolanic activity whose contents fell

ity of a pozzolan to react with CH

without consideration of particle size.
The PACs for the volcanic rocks used
in the present study are presented in the
last column of Table 3. The results indi-
cated that the components of these rocks
showing pozzolanic activity comprise no
less than half of the total rock composi-
tion. Therefore, from the perspective of
intrinsic properties, these rocks have sig-
nificant potential for pozzolanic activity,
and can been used as supplementary
cementing material in cement-based
materials, as long as they are ground into
powder with appropriate particle sizes.
Within a group of unaltered natural
pozzolans with similar volcanic origin
and composition, a correlation between
amorphous phase content and pozzolanic
activity was observed by Mehta,[30] and
into the above ranges.
3.2. Pozzolanic reaction degree
3.2.1. Pozzolanic reaction degree
The PRDs of volcanic rocks at different
aging times and mixing contents are pre-
sented in Table 4 and compared with the
results of previous studies.[32–36]
Although there was a small difference
in the trend pattern of PRD between the
two volcanic rock specimens NQ and CZ
at all times shown, the PRD of the speci-
men NQ was still higher than that of the
specimen CZ, with one exception. It can
be seen that the specimen NQ possessed
better pozzolanic activity and was pre-
ferred as a pozzolan in cement-based
materials.

Table 4. PRD of volcanic rock in the pozzolan/cement paste.

Mix
No. Specimen content (%) 1 day 3 days 7 days 14 days 28 days 60 days 90 days
1 Volcanic 10 7.27 15.38 28.71 31.39 36.98 49.60 52.36
2 rock NQ 20 7.39 13.47 22.08 25.18 28.04 36.52 41.65
3 30 6.84 16.89 25.73 28.34 33.00 32.10 35.84
4 40 4.64 17.11 25.91 25.01 29.43 32.48 34.72
5 Volcanic 10 7.24 10.01 28.50 20.47 30.99 42.70 45.15
6 rock CZ 20 6.49 10.32 20.60 22.00 30.33 34.22 39.51
7 30 5.21 9.43 20.22 23.05 25.59 27.41 31.14
8 40 2.96 11.90 21.60 22.36 24.07 24.11 27.81
9 Zeolite [32] 15 5.17 9.08 28.94 36.32
10 25 4.93 8.92 28.45 36.14
 12 L. Yu et al.
The specimen NQ is an example
showing a varying pattern for the PRD of
a volcanic rock. At the initial stage of the
hydration reaction (one day), the reaction
degrees of the rock were seen to scatter
between 4.6 and 7.2% for various mixing
contents, as shown in Table 4. Then, dur-
ing the early stages of 3–7 days, the reac-
tion degrees of the rock increased rapidly
from approximately 13–17% to 22–28%.
The reaction degrees continued to rise
slightly. At 90 days, more than 34% of
the rock had reacted, and 52% had partic-
ipated in pozzolanic hydration with a
10% volcanic rock replacement in the
Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 10:36 10 October 2015
pozzolan/cement paste. The PRD of the
volcanic rock in the pozzolan/cement
paste gradually increased with curing
time (Figure 3). The growth rate of the
PRD during the early hydration period
was clearly larger than that after seven
days. It is clear that at any level of volca-
nic rock replacement, within the first
seven days, half of the pozzolanic reac-
tion achieved during 90 days had already
been completed. Thus, for any amount of
volcanic rock replacement in the
pozzolan/cement paste, there was a clear
turning point in the growth rate of the
PRD at seven days. After seven days, the
PRD continued to increase for a long
time, but only slowly. It is important to
Figure 3. Varity of PRD for the rock NQ with cured time.
note that although the rate of the pozzola-
nic reaction became slow after prolonged
curing, there was still a considerable
improvement in the PRD of the volcanic
rock from 14 to 90 days. For example,
the PRD of volcanic rock for a pozzolan/
cement paste with 20% replacement was
25.2% at 14 days and 41.7% at 90 days.
The reaction of the volcanic rock had still
not completely finished at 90 days, and
more than half of the rock was still
unreacted.
From Table 4, it can also be seen that
the PRD of the volcanic rock in a cement
paste with a higher percentage of replace-
ment is lower than in that with a lower
percentage. This is consistent with the
results in studies of the hydration of the
zeolite/cement pastes,[32] fly ash/cement
pastes,[33] and metakaolin/cement pastes,
and silica fume/cement pastes.[34] The
higher rate of pozzolanic reaction in
cement pastes with a lower replacement
level can be attributed to the higher con-
centration of CH available for the pozzo-
lan to react with. At the lower dosage of
volcanic rock in the pozzolan/cement
paste, there was sufficient CH from hydra-
tion of cement, and this accelerated the
pozzolanic reaction of the volcanic rock in
the system and maintained a higher growth
rate of the PRD for a longer time.
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials
A comparison of the reaction degrees
of volcanic rocks with zeolite measured
by a selective dissolution procedure using
picric acid–methanol solution and water
[32] is given in Table 4. It can be seen
that the reactivity of the volcanic rock in
this work is distinctly higher than that of
zeolite during the early stage (three days
and seven days), but close to that of zeo-
lite after 28 days. This indicates that the
volcanic rock in cement-based material
has the advantages of rapid hardening in
the early stage and accelerated construc-
tion on site.
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3.2.2. CH content and the bond water
content
3.2.2.1. TGA data processing. The
details of the procedure for processing
data from TGA are described in the fol-
lowing, with the example of cement paste
containing 20% of the volcanic rock NQ
at three days, shown in Figure 4. The
three curves, Wt–Temp (Y1, green
curve), Heat Flow–Temp (Y2, blue
curve), and 2nd Derivative Wt corrected
Figure 4. TGA data processing graph.
13
Heat Flow–Temp (Y3, red curve) were
chosen for interpretation of TGA data.
Within the range 50–400 °C, the begin-
ning temperature (43.44 °C) and finishing
temperature (161.54 °C) of the heat phe-
nomenon reflecting simultaneously on the
three curves were determined, and the
difference between their corresponding
weight values (99.36 and 94.20%) was
defined as Ta (5.16%). In the same way,
within the range 400–550 °C, the differ-
ence between the beginning weight value
(91.02%) and the finishing weight value
(88.85%) of the heat phenomenon
was defined as Tb (2.17%). Finally,
within range 550–770 °C, the difference
between the beginning weight value
(87.99%) and finishing weight value
(87.33%) of the heat phenomenon was
defined as Tc (0.66%). The contents of
CH and bond water for the pozzolan/
cement paste could then be calculated
using Equations (5) and (6).
The TGA results for cement paste
blended with the volcanic rock NQ at dif-
ferent ages and various blended contents
are listed in Table 5.
 14 L. Yu et al.

Table 5. The TGA results of cement paste blended with volcanic rock NQ.
Mixing content Curing time Ta Tb Tc Bond water CH content
No. (%) (day) (%) (%) (%) content (%) (%)
1 0 1 1.46 2.21 0.82 4.17 10.00
2 3 4.20 3.12 0.63 7.70 13.53
3 7 5.83 3.39 0.55 9.55 14.55
4 28 4.26 3.48 0.5 8.04 14.87
5 90 5.17 3.54 0.41 8.96 15.01
6 10 1 4.89 2.12 0.53 7.33 9.31
7 3 4.44 2.92 0.33 7.56 12.37
8 7 6.55 3.21 0.58 10.11 13.85
9 28 4.40 2.77 1.23 7.92 12.77
10 90 4.89 2.87 1.18 8.48 13.12
11 20 1 3.93 1.98 0.55 6.24 8.76
12 3 5.16 2.17 0.66 7.73 9.65
13 7 6.72 2.38 0.59 9.46 10.45
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14 28 5.35 2.19 1.24 8.29 10.39

15 90 5.68 2.27 1.14 8.64 10.61
16 30 1 2.66 1.64 0.38 4.53 7.17
17 3 4.23 1.68 0.55 6.24 7.52
18 7 6.30 1.74 1.37 8.87 8.69
19 28 5.04 1.94 0.66 7.38 8.72
20 90 5.69 2.13 1.23 8.57 10.13
21 40 1 3.65 1.37 0.55 5.35 6.25
22 3 4.81 1.43 0.44 6.51 6.37
23 7 6.97 1.31 0.6 8.64 6.06
24 28 5.77 1.31 1.03 7.70 6.54
25 90 5.68 1.36 1.4 7.89 7.16

3.2.2.2. CH content. The CH contents of of free CH in the hardened pozzolanic

the pozzolan/cement pastes at different
ages and various blended contents for the
volcanic rock NQ are shown in Figure 5.
It can be seen that all the pozzolan/cement
pastes had lower CH contents than the
control cement paste without volcanic
rock. As a result, CH content declined
with increasing volcanic rock content in
the pozzolan/cement pastes and raised
with curing time, but the addition of a nat-
ural pozzolan appears to retard the normal
hydration of Portland cement during the
early period (seven days) and results in a
significant acceleration of CH content.
Thereafter, there is a little difference in
CH content among these pastes at the
same dosage and different curing times.
Malquori [35] suggested that an
evaluation of pozzolanic materials for
addition to Portland cement must be
based on two factors: (1) the reduction
cement and (2) the mechanical strength
of mortars and concretes made with a
Portland-pozzolan mixture. Furthermore,
the amount of CH consumed by the
reaction of volcanic rock in pozzolan/
cement paste with different percentage
of volcanic rock replacement can be
roughly estimated by subtracting the CH
content of the pozzolan/cement paste
from the CH content of the control
cement paste. The estimated results are
plotted in the following Figure 6. Thus,
the depletion of CH content is enhanced
with increasing content of volcanic rock
in the pozzolan/cement paste. The higher
the percentage of volcanic rock replace-
ment, the greater the reduction in CH
content is.
It is known that the CH content of a
Portland cement paste indicates the
degree of hydration of the cement, while
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials 15
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Figure 5. Relation between CH content and volcanic rock content.

Figure 6. Relation between CH consumption content and hydration time.

the CH consumption in a blended cement from hydration of cement existed in the

paste is related to the PRD.[33,34] A
positive CH reduction indicates that poz-
zolanic reaction from volcanic rock
occurred and consumed more CH than
was produced by the hydration reaction
between cement and water. From
Figure 6, it can be seen that the incorpo-
ration of a high volume of volcanic rock
in a cement paste may accelerate second
hydration and deplete more CH. From
Figures 3, 5, and 6, it can be seen that
there are some striking similarities.
During the early stage, sufficient CH
pozzolan/cement paste and accelerated
the growth rate of the PRD; meanwhile,
the CH consumption in the blended
cement paste increased vigorously. There-
after, after seven days, the CH content
remained relatively stable on progression,
the pozzolanic reaction of volcanic rock
in the system obviously decreased, and
the development of CH consumption in
the blended cement paste became smooth.
However, there are some differences
among these blended cement pastes
because of the different replacement level
 16
of volcanic rock. A change in the growth
rate of the PRD for 10% volcanic rock in
the blended cement paste occurred at
seven days. However, the CH consump-
tion in the blended cement paste reached
a maximum at an age of 28 days, and
then declined slowly. This phenomenon
is somewhat similar to that which
occurred with 20 and 30% volcanic rock
replacement in the blended cement paste.
The above results reveal a relation-
ship between PRD and CH consumption,
which could reflect the process of pozzo-
lanic reaction of the volcanic rock. This
is consistent with previous results from a
Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 10:36 10 October 2015
hydration study of the fly ash/cement
pastes.[36]
3.2.2.3. Bond water content. The bond
water contents of pozzolan/cement pastes
at different ages and with various blended
contents of the volcanic rock NQ are
shown in Figure 7.
In general, the bond water content
decreased with increasing volcanic rock
content in the pozzolan/cement pastes,
and increased with increasing curing
time, but the bond water contents for any
level of volcanic rock in the blended
cement paste reached a maximum at age
of seven days.
Figure 7. Relation between bondwater content and curing time.
L. Yu et al.
The discussion here focuses on the
relationship between the bond water
content in the pozzolan/cement paste and
the PRD of the volcanic rock. Based on
Table 4 and Figure 7, the variation of
the PRD for the volcanic rock NQ in the
paste with the bond water content in the
homologous paste is plotted in Figure 8.
The PRD increased with bond water
content within the range discussed, and
the relationship between them appeared
to satisfy an approximating linear power
law. The fitting power regression equa-
tion had a correlation coefficient
R = 0.75.
3.3. PASI and pozzolanic activity index
The compressive or tensile strength of
mortars is used to assess pozzolanic
activity for pozzolan in many standards,
such as ASTM C618-00 (Standard
Specification for Coal Ash and Raw or
Calcined Natural Pozzolan for Use as a
Mineral Admixture in Concrete) in the
United States and JG/T 315-2011
(Natural Pozzolanic Materials Used for
Cement Mortar and Concrete) in China.
Takemoto and Uchikawa [37] also stated
that the quality of natural or artificial
pozzolanic cements should be evaluated
by mechanical strength test. The mortars
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials
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Figure 8. Variation of PRD with the bond water content.
are prepared with a specified ratio of
pozzolan to Portland cement or pozzolan
to lime and are cured under closely con-
trolled conditions.
The pozzolanic activity index is con-
sidered to be a direct parameter for
assessing pozzolanic activity of pozzo-
lans. The test results for the pozzolanic
activity index are given in Table 6. The
pozzolanic activity indices in our speci-
mens are large enough to meet the
requirement of the Chinese industry stan-
dard JG/T 315-2011 (Natural Pozzolanic
Materials Used for Cement Mortar and
Concrete). Therefore, these volcanic
rocks are mechanically suitable for use as
pozzolans in cement-based material.
It is generally considered that
pozzolan should have a pozzolanic
activity index of ≥75% to satisfy the
demand of supplementary binding mate-
rial of superior quality in cement-based
materials, which is consistent with the
Chinese Standard GB/T 18736-2002
(Mineral Admixtures for High Strength
and High Performance Concrete) and the
US Standard ASTM C618-00 (Standard
Specification for Coal Ash and Raw or
Calcined Natural Pozzolan for Use as A
Mineral Admixture in Concrete). Six
volcanic rock specimens possessed a
pozzolanic activity index of ≥75% after a
17
28-day curing period and surpassed the
critical value for high-grade pozzolan.
Hence, these volcanic rocks can be con-
firmed as good pozzolans in cement-
based materials. Meanwhile, two other
volcanic rock specimens (ZT and DB)
had pozzolanic activity indices less than
or approximating the critical value for
good pozzolans.
The mechanical performance of
blended cements in concrete and mortar
is closely controlled by the level of poz-
zolan replacement. As can be seen from
the results of specimen NQ and CZ in
Table 6, a consistent decline in the com-
pressive or flexural strength and rate of
strength development for mortars was
noted as the amount of raw pozzolan
material in the blended cement increased.
It is obvious that at any time, for the
compressive or flexural strength of mor-
tar, the optimum replacement level of
volcanic rock is 10%, for which the mor-
tar strengths were the highest, some
exceeding the strength of the control
cement mortar. When the ground volcanic
rock in specimens NQ and CZ replaced
up to 50% of control Portland cement,
the blended cement produced from these
had the desired physical characteristics,
with 28-day compressive strengths above
32.5 MPa. The results suggest that both
 Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 10:36 10 October 2015

18

Table 6. Mortar strength and pozzolanic active strength index.

Compressive strength Flexural strength
(MPa) (MPa) PASI (%)
No. Specimen Volcanic rock content (％) 28 days 90 days 28 days 90 days 28 days 90 days
0 Cement 0 53.5 63.9 7.9 9.5
1 CP 30 43.1 50.3 7.1 7.5 81 79
2 BS 30 45.3 47.8 7.3 7.9 85 75
3 CF 30 42.8 54.7 7.2 7.8 80 86
4 LJ 30 43.1 50.0 6.9 7.3 80 78
5 ZT 30 34.6 47.7 6.4 7.4 65 75
6 DB 30 39.5 45.2 7.0 7.2 74 71
7 NQ 10 57.1 64.3 8.5 9.4 107 101
20 50.5 59.7 7.8 9.0 94 93
L. Yu et al.

30 44.7 50.2 7.2 8.1 83 79

40 41.3 46.6 6.4 8.0 77 73
50 39.5 40.3 5.7 6.9 74 63
8 CZ 10 54.1 60.4 8.4 8.6 101 94
20 53.9 60.1 7.9 8.8 101 94
30 44.0 53.2 7.5 8.1 82 83
40 48.0 50.0 7.1 7.4 90 78
50 38.5 43.2 5.6 7.3 72 68
9 Natural pozzolanic material [*] 30 ≥65
*Chinese standard JG/T 315-2011.
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials
of these volcanic rocks can be used in
the production of pozzolan cements
blended with 50% volcanic rock.
Similarly, the variation of PASI with
the mixing content of volcanic rock pow-
der is plotted in Figure 9. The PASI values
for the volcanic rock NQ and CZ
decreased with increasing percentage of
volcanic rock powder within the given
range, and the relationships between PASI
and the mix percentage were always very
close to linear. The fitting linear regression
equations had higher correlation coeffi-
cients at various cured stages, for example,
0.97 and 0.99 for NQ and CZ, respec-
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tively, at 28 days, and 0.87 and 0.97,
respectively, at 90 days. This suggests that
the trend of development of PASI with
mixing pozzolan content was quite stable.
3.4. The relationship between PRD
and PASI
Using the data from Tables 4 and 6, the
relation between PRD and PASI for the
volcanic rock specimens NQ and CZ is
plotted in Figure 10, in which each point
represents the specimen values of PASI
and PRD at the same hydration time and
the same level of replacement. If these
110
100
90
PSAI/%
80
70
60
10 20
Mix content of volcanic rock/%
Figure 9. Variation of PSAI with mixing content of volcanic rock.
19
data are divided into four groups (NQ-
28d, NQ-90d, CZ-28d, and CZ-90d)
based on specimen and hydration time, it
is found that there is a linear relationship
between PASI with PRD for various mix
percentages. These fitting linear regres-
sion equations had favorable correlation
coefficients, for example, 0.60 and 0.85
for NQ and CZ, respectively, at 28 days,
and 0.94 and 0.95, respectively, at
90 days. Their relevance is more obvious
at late hydration.
Figure 10 exhibits the consistent evo-
lution of PASI with PRD for volcanic
rock under identical conditions of speci-
men powder, blended content, and hydra-
tion environment.
3.5. The relationship between bond
water content and PASI
Day and Shi [20] found that a significant
correlation exists between strength and
hydrate water per gram of anhydrous
sample for lime-natural pozzolan cement
pastes. Similarly, according to the data in
Tables 5 and 6, the relation between bond
water content and PASI for the volcanic
rock specimens NQ could be diagrammed
in Figure 11, in which each point
NQ28d
NQ90d
CZ28d
CZ90d
30 40 50
 20 L. Yu et al.

110

Pozzolanic activity strength index/%

100

90
NQ-28d
NQ-90d
80
CZ-28d

CZ-90d
70
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Pozzolanic reaction degree/%
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Figure 10. Varity of pozzolanic activity strength index with PRD for the rock NQ and CZ.

Figure 11. Variation of compressive strength with bond water content.

represented the specimen values of PASI or bond water content for the volcanic
and bond water content at the same rock is expounded and proved in this
hydration time and the same level of study.
replacement. The PASI values for the
volcanic rock increased with bond water
4. Conclusions
content of the pastes in a strongly linear
fashion within the discussed range, and The results of the analysis and discussion
the fitting linear regression equation had can be summarized as follows:
fair correlation coefficients of R = 0.77 at
various cured stages. (1) The pozzolanic activity compo-
In summary, the coherence relation- nent calculated from chemical
ship between the mechanical properties composition and amorphous
expressed by the PASI and the chemical phase content, instead of chemi-
reaction properties reflected through PRD cal composition alone, has been
 Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials
appraised as a characteristic index
of potential pozzolanic activity to
indicate the intrinsic capacity of
pozzolans to react with CH, with-
out taking particle size into
account. The volcanic rocks used
possessed pozzolanic activity
components no less than half of
the total rock composition
because of an abundance of
SiO2 + Al2O3 in the chemical
composition and plentiful amor-
phous phase content in the rock
texture.
(2) The PRDs of the volcanic rocks
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in the cement paste gradually
increased with curing time. After
seven days, the rate of increase
fell, although the PRD continued
to increase for a long time.
(3) The analysis results revealed a
consistent relationship between
CH consumption and PRD, which
could be used as indicators
reflecting the process of pozzola-
nic reaction of volcanic rock. The
PRD increased with increasing
bond water content.
(4) The pozzolanic activity indices of
the volcanic rocks at 28 days ran-
ged between 65 and 85%, and
were large enough to surpass the
critical values for pozzolans used
in cement mortar and concrete as
specified by the relevant stan-
dards. The volcanic rocks investi-
gated are suitable for use as
pozzolans in cement-based mate-
rials, and most of them could be
confirmed as good pozzolans for
such materials.
(5) For these volcanic rocks, a
homologous relationship was
revealed between the mechanical
properties expressed by PASI and
the chemical reaction properties
reflected by the PRD or bond
water content.
21
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the
financial support provided by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
No. 51168015) for this work.
Funding
This work was financially support provided
by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China [grant number 51168015].
Notes on contributors
Lehua Yu, Professor, research interest in
mineral admixture in concrete, the published
articles: [1] Yu L-H, Ou H, Lee L-L. Investiga-
tion on pozzolanic effect of perlite powder in
concrete. Cem. Concr. Res. 2003;33:76; [2] Yu
LH, Ou H, Zhou SX. Influence of perlite
admixture on pore structure of cement paste.
Adv. Mater. Res. 2010;97–101:552.
Shuangxi Zhou, Vice Professor, research
interest in cement and concrete, the published
articles: [1] Zhou Shuangxi, Huang Shuimei.
Effect of two kinds of activated coal gangue
powder on compressive strength and pore
size of blended cement mortars. Disaster
Advances, 2010, (3):324–326; [2] Zhou
Shuangxi. Rate of pozzolanic of two kinds of
activated coal gangue. Journal of Shanghai
University, 2009, 13(4): 322–326; [3] Zhou
Shuangxi, Chen Yimin, Zhang Wensheng. Pre-
diction of compressive strength of cement mor-
tars with fly ash, activated coal gangue. Journal
of Southeast University, 2006, 12: 549–552.
Wenwu Deng, Graduate student, research
interest in cement-based material.
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