Thermal analysis to assess pozzolanic activity of calcined kaolinitic clays

The use of calcined clays as partial replacement of cement is encouraged since it promotes the reduction of the green-house gas emission and the energy requirement of cement-based material, maintaining or enhancing the mechanical properties and the durable performance of these materials. In this paper, the use of thermal methods—DTA/TG and calorimetry—to select and to evaluate two kaolinitic clays for their use as pozzolanic materials was explored. The content and crystallinity of kaolinite in clays can be determined by DTA/TG analysis, and this technique is also suitable to select the calcination temperature for complete kaolinite dehydroxylation. Calorimetric analysis on blended cements (30 % by mass of replacement) can differentiate the reactivity of calcined kaolinitic clays. Results show that more reactive calcined kaolinitic clay develops the second and third peaks earlier than those of PC with great intensity and high acceleration. The reactivity of calcined clays is associated to raw materials containing kaolinite with high structural disorder that determines calcined clays with large specific surface area, high grindability, and small mean particles size (d ₅₀) for the same grinding objective. Finally, the DTA/TG analysis can determine the type and the amount of hydrated phases obtained at different ages to evaluate the pozzolanic reaction of calcined clay in accordance with the standardized pozzolanic activity index.     

A study on protonation equilibria in a series of amino-1-(substituted phenyl)pyrazoles

The ionization constants (proton gain) of 3-,4-, and 5-amino-1-(substituted phenyl)pyrazoles, have been measured in 10% v/v ethanol-water. pKa values show a good linear dependence on Hammett substituent constants. The reaction constants Q are in keeping with the respective protonation sites in the three series of monocations. The uv spectra of 1-(m-nitrophenyl)pyrazole and 1-(p-methoxyphenyl)pyrazole and of their 3-amino, 4-amino, 5-amino analogues recorded in acidic and neutral media, show that in the three series the first protonation site does not change with change in substituent at phenyl ring.     

The mobility and ion structure of protonated aminoazoles

The reduced mobility of protonated pyrazole derivatives was measured by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) in air, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, at temperatures between 150 and 250°C. It was found that the mobility of protonated 5-amino-1-phenylpyrazole was higher than that of its 3- and 4-isomers. This was attributed to the fact that in the 5-isomer the preferred site of protonation is on the endocyclic nitrogen, which leads to delocalization of the ionic charge, and thus to a diminished interaction with the drift gas molecules. On the other hand, protonated 5-amino-1-methylpyrazole has a slightly lower mobility than its isomers, which is indicative of a different protonation mechanism.     

Some properties of skew codes over finite fields

After recalling the definition of some codes as modules over skew polynomial rings, whose multiplication is defined by using an endomorphism and a derivation, and some basic facts about them, in the first part of this paper we study some of their main algebraic and geometric properties. Finally, for module skew codes constructed only with an automorphism, we give some BCH type lower bounds for their minimum distance.