Quartz-Based Castables with Calcium Silicate Cement as Binder-Mineralizer: Replacing Shaped Product for Large-Scale Fabrication

Abstract

To meet the demand for intelligent masonry of large-sized silica bricks, calcium silicate cement synthesized from high-purity nano CaCO₃ and microsilica was used as both binder and mineralizer in quartz-based castables. The effects of cement content (3−5 wt%) on performance were systematically investigated. With optimal retarder (0.015% citric acid monohydrate), the samples achieved early flexural and compressive strengths of 1.30 MPa and 7.0 MPa, respectively, after 24 h curing. During firing at 1430 °C for 20 h, CaO from cement effectively promoted quartz transformation to tridymite. Compared to conventional silica bricks, castables with 5% cement showed residual quartz below 1%, lower apparent porosity, over 2.5−fold higher cold crushing strength, comparable high-temperature creep, and superior refractoriness under load. This study demonstrates the dual gelling and mineralizing role of calcium silicate cement, offering a feasible route for producing large-sized quartz-based precast components.

Keywords

Calcium silicate cement / Quartz-based castables / Mineralization / High-temperature creep

Statement of the Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process

During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used AI language assistance tools in order to improve language expression and academic writing. After using this tool/service, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the published article.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Z.C., Y.L. and N.L.; Methodology, Z.C.; Software, Z.C.; Validation, Z.C., Y.L., N.L. and W.L.; Formal Analysis, Z.C. and W.L.; Investigation, Z.C.; Resources, Y.L., N.L., W.B., D.X., W.Y. and B.T.; Data Curation, Z.C.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, Z.C. and W.L.; Writing—Review & Editing, Y.L., N.L. and W.L.; Visualization, Z.C.; Supervision, Z.C.; Project Administration, Y.L. and N.L.; Funding Acquisition, Y.L. and S.J. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Funding

This research was funded by the Hubei Provincial Special Fund for Central-Guided Local S&T Development, grant number 2025CSA017.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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