Influence of sodium carbonate addition on the thermal reactivity of tungsten mine waste mud based binders

This paper report results of a research project related to the development of an alkali-activated based binder using mineral waste mud from a tungsten mine. Some aspects related to the influence of time and temperature calcination of mine waste mud mixed with sodium carbonate on the compressive strength performance of alkali-activated mortars are reported. Results show that calcination of mine waste mud mixed with sodium carbonate does not lead to the dehydroxylation state. Although they possess early high strength, alkali-activated mortars based on mine waste mud calcined with sodium carbonate present a high amount of sodium efflorescences after water immersion that maybe due to an ineffective chemical combination.