Production of Sintered Fine Sediment Lightweight Aggregate

This paper investigates the production process and mechanical properties of lightweight aggregates made from fine sediments collected from the Shih-Men Reservoir in Taiwan. Approximately 95% of the reservoir's fine sediment particles pass through a No.200 sieve. This sediment is composed of 61% of SiO₂, 18% Al₂O₃, and 6.5% Fe₂O₃. In this study, the fine sediments were granulated and heated to the fusion point of about 1100°C to 1200°C in a high temperature oven. After heated, the grains became soft grew 10% to 60% larger than their original volume. In these experiments, the lightweight aggregates were sintered into a single nominal particle size (11 mm) and 3 specific weight ranges (0.8∼1.0, 1.0∼1.2, 1.2∼1.4). The test results show that using ultra-fine sediments as the raw material is advantageous in forming surface-glassed lightweight aggregates with reduced water absorption capacity and higher compressive strength. The water absorption adsorption capacity of the lightweight aggregates varied from 9% to 13%. The particle strength was between 7 MPa and 17 MPa.