Research

Formulation and characterization 

Ongoing projects

Recovery of treated spent-pot lining (SPL) from the primary aluminium production for use as as suplementary cementitious materials

Objectives:

• Optimize the use of treated SPL in the three systems (cement pastes, mortars and concretes) by improving their properties;
• Characterize the physico-mechanics of new hydrated phases (e.g.: C-A-S-H, calcium-aluminate-silicate-hydrate) that significantly impact the microstructure of cement paste;
• Characterize the durability of new concretes with treated SPL;
• Analyze the life-cycle of treated SPL sub-products to highlight the environmental benefits of new concretes with treated SPL.

Partners: Rio Tinto, Ciment Québec, Université Laval
Funding: NSERC, CRITM 
Team: Victor Brial, Thomas Duplessis, Niakalé Camara

Wood and clay structures: Characterization, fire resistance, hygrothermal modelling and life-cycle analysis

Objectives:

• Formulate a clay mixture with vegetable fibres for construction to measure the hygrometric properties;
• Measure the migration ward clay for products used to treat wood for fire and insect resistance; 
• Test the fire resistance of wood-clay materials on girders and on a small wall prototype; 
• Carry out hygrothermal modelling of the wood-clay envelope;
• Analyze the life-cycle to highlight the conditions that demonstrate that wood-clay houses are beneficial within a sustainability context;
• Disseminate the results to partners and in Africa.

Partners: QWEB, American Structures, Technologies Boralife, ENERGIES 2050
Funding: NSERC Alliance, PRIMA Québec
Team: Auguerata Kaboré, Meriam Aouinti, Mathieu Bendouma

GeoDetox

Objectives:

• Develop a method for the synthesis of geopolymer absorbents with bauxite residue (granular and slurry);
• Test the ability of these geopolymers to capture pollutants;
• Analyze the formulated products from a sustainable and economic development perspective.

Partner: Rio Tinto
Funding: Mitacs Accelerate
Team: Michael DiMare, Rhea Guha, Pierre Bambier

Recovery of mining waste with cement additive containing treated SPL

Objectives:

• Optimize the use of treated SPL in cement pastes and other types of mining waste;
• Characterize the physico-mechanics and the effect of treated SPL on key properties of the microstructure of cemented paste backfill (CPB) using a multi-scaled approach;
• Characterize the sulfate content and leaching of these materials;
• Analyze the life-cycle of the production of CPB in order to compare the environmental impacts created by the use of two types of residues.

Partners: Université Laval (applicant), Rio Tinto, Ciment Québec
Funding: FRQNT
Team: to come

Prospective design for gas turbine packaging – free-form sustainable manufacturing using concrete-wood composite

Objective:

• Assessment of new materials and manufacturing processes for large-scale packaging.

Partners: Lucas Hof (ÉTS)
Funding: Siemens Energy
Team: Silvia Castillo, Claudia Rega Sarasola

Additive manufacturing and automation in civil engineering and construction engineering

Objective:

• Accelerate the pace of innovation in 3D printing and automation for the civil engineering and construction engineering sectors.

Funding: Canada Foundation for Innovation
Team: Vasilis Sergis, François Duhaime

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Formulation and modeling of innovating functionalized cementitious materials for 3D printing based on rheology, calorimetry and polymer adsorption

Objectives

• Formulate concrete for 3D printing by measuring the rheological parameters of cementitious pastes with admixtures and supplementary cementing materials, hydration by calorimetry, adsorption of polymers to cement, compressive strength in the hardened state, and microstructure. 
• Model rheology, flocculation and hydration mechanisms and construction processes for 3D printing programming. 
• Construct concrete building components with a 3D printing process.

Funding:  Fonds de Recherche du Québec Nature et technologies
Team: Malo Charrier, Vasilis Sergis 
Publications
D-optimal design of experiments applied to 3D high-performance concrete printing mix design
Artificial neural network for the prediction of the fresh properties of cementitious materials
How Admixtures Affect Yield Stresses of Cement
Testing procedures on materials to formulate the ink for 3D printing