1:1 or 2:1 ‐ Does it matter for calcined clay as supplementary cementitious material?

Abstract

Calcined clays are the most promising future supplementary cementitious material which are capable of replacing fly ashes and blast furnace slag on the long run due to their potential to achieve high cement replacement levels and their global availability. In the last decade most research has focused on calcined clays rich in the 1:1 kaolinite. Clay with less than 20 to 25 % kaolinite were seen as worthless. Even the content of 2:1 phyllosilicates in the kaolinitic clays was neglected and not even mentioned although especially these clays are dominant in areas like central and northern Europe. Here, highly kaolinitic clays are rare or used by other industries leading to high prices. This paper is based on published works and highlights whether information obtained for calcined 1:1 dominated clays can be applied for calcined 2:1 dominated clays or not and where further research is needed.