UR2: Ultra-rapid reactivity test for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays

Yujia Min; Hossein Kabir; Chirayu Kothari; M. Farjad Iqbal; Nishant Garg

doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2025.107806

UR²: Ultra-rapid reactivity test for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays

Yujia Min, Hossein Kabir, Chirayu Kothari, M. Farjad Iqbal, Nishant Garg

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

To reduce cement's carbon footprint, there is growing interest in commercial adoption of sustainable SCMs such as calcined clays. However, the existing ASTM standard (R³ test, C1897) to test the reactivity of such clays takes up to 7 days and cannot be used for real-time quality control in an industrial setting. We address this issue by introducing a 5-min Ultra-Rapid Reactivity (UR²) test. By dissolving 47 clay specimens in 4 M NaOH solutions at 90 °C, we report that a dissolution index of 1.54Al + Si correlates strongly to the 7-day R³ heat (R² = 0.92, RMSE = 94.1 J/g). This dissolution index also correlates to the 28-day compressive strength for 14 clay mixtures (R² = 0.94, RMSE = 1.7 MPa). This UR² test relies on colorimetry and can be conducted via off-the-shelf, low-cost cameras. Overall, our new UR² test opens a pathway for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	107806
Journal	Cement and Concrete Research
Volume	191
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2025.107806
State	Published - May 2025

Keywords

Calcined clay
Dissolution
Pozzolanic reactivity
Quality control
Rapid assessment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Building and Construction
General Materials Science

Online availability

10.1016/j.cemconres.2025.107806

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Cite this

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title = "UR2: Ultra-rapid reactivity test for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays",

abstract = "To reduce cement's carbon footprint, there is growing interest in commercial adoption of sustainable SCMs such as calcined clays. However, the existing ASTM standard (R3 test, C1897) to test the reactivity of such clays takes up to 7 days and cannot be used for real-time quality control in an industrial setting. We address this issue by introducing a 5-min Ultra-Rapid Reactivity (UR2) test. By dissolving 47 clay specimens in 4 M NaOH solutions at 90 °C, we report that a dissolution index of 1.54Al + Si correlates strongly to the 7-day R3 heat (R2 = 0.92, RMSE = 94.1 J/g). This dissolution index also correlates to the 28-day compressive strength for 14 clay mixtures (R2 = 0.94, RMSE = 1.7 MPa). This UR2 test relies on colorimetry and can be conducted via off-the-shelf, low-cost cameras. Overall, our new UR2 test opens a pathway for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays.",

keywords = "Calcined clay, Dissolution, Pozzolanic reactivity, Quality control, Rapid assessment",

author = "Yujia Min and Hossein Kabir and Chirayu Kothari and Iqbal, {M. Farjad} and Nishant Garg",

note = "The authors thank the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for the facilities and support. Authors partially acknowledge support from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0001401. Authors also acknowledge partial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) TI 23-31168 I-Corps award. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. The authors would like to acknowledge that a part of this research was carried out at the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We thank the Clay Minerals Society (CMS) and numerous industrial partners for supplying samples from around the world. We also thank Izzatul H. S. Izam, Sangmin Kim, and Muhammad Hasnain for assistance with some experiments. We acknowledge the helpful suggestions from two anonymous reviewers.",

year = "2025",

month = may,

doi = "10.1016/j.cemconres.2025.107806",

language = "English (US)",

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journal = "Cement and Concrete Research",

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AU - Min, Yujia

AU - Kabir, Hossein

AU - Kothari, Chirayu

AU - Iqbal, M. Farjad

AU - Garg, Nishant

N1 - The authors thank the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for the facilities and support. Authors partially acknowledge support from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0001401. Authors also acknowledge partial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) TI 23-31168 I-Corps award. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. The authors would like to acknowledge that a part of this research was carried out at the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We thank the Clay Minerals Society (CMS) and numerous industrial partners for supplying samples from around the world. We also thank Izzatul H. S. Izam, Sangmin Kim, and Muhammad Hasnain for assistance with some experiments. We acknowledge the helpful suggestions from two anonymous reviewers.

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N2 - To reduce cement's carbon footprint, there is growing interest in commercial adoption of sustainable SCMs such as calcined clays. However, the existing ASTM standard (R3 test, C1897) to test the reactivity of such clays takes up to 7 days and cannot be used for real-time quality control in an industrial setting. We address this issue by introducing a 5-min Ultra-Rapid Reactivity (UR2) test. By dissolving 47 clay specimens in 4 M NaOH solutions at 90 °C, we report that a dissolution index of 1.54Al + Si correlates strongly to the 7-day R3 heat (R2 = 0.92, RMSE = 94.1 J/g). This dissolution index also correlates to the 28-day compressive strength for 14 clay mixtures (R2 = 0.94, RMSE = 1.7 MPa). This UR2 test relies on colorimetry and can be conducted via off-the-shelf, low-cost cameras. Overall, our new UR2 test opens a pathway for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays.

AB - To reduce cement's carbon footprint, there is growing interest in commercial adoption of sustainable SCMs such as calcined clays. However, the existing ASTM standard (R3 test, C1897) to test the reactivity of such clays takes up to 7 days and cannot be used for real-time quality control in an industrial setting. We address this issue by introducing a 5-min Ultra-Rapid Reactivity (UR2) test. By dissolving 47 clay specimens in 4 M NaOH solutions at 90 °C, we report that a dissolution index of 1.54Al + Si correlates strongly to the 7-day R3 heat (R2 = 0.92, RMSE = 94.1 J/g). This dissolution index also correlates to the 28-day compressive strength for 14 clay mixtures (R2 = 0.94, RMSE = 1.7 MPa). This UR2 test relies on colorimetry and can be conducted via off-the-shelf, low-cost cameras. Overall, our new UR2 test opens a pathway for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays.

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KW - Rapid assessment

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UR²: Ultra-rapid reactivity test for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays

Abstract

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Researchers develop a five-minute quality test for sustainable cement industry materials

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UR2: Ultra-rapid reactivity test for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Online availability

Library availability

Related links

Fingerprint

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Researchers develop a five-minute quality test for sustainable cement industry materials

Cite this

UR²: Ultra-rapid reactivity test for real-time, low-cost quality control of calcined clays