Mehnaz Dhar
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
About Mehnaz Dhar
Affiliation
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Innovandi Project
Core Project 5: Linking physico-chemical properties of calcined clay to performance of LC3
Background
Civil Engineering from the Islamic University of Science and Technology, India with an MTech in Construction Technology of Management. My research interests involves around the development of novel and sustainable materials and their application in cementitious systems.
Research topic
My research topic focuses on understanding the influence of calcination temperature on the physical and chemical properties of calcined clays for use as supplementary cementitious materials. The main objective is to develop the knowledge required for well-controlled and optimized production of limestone calcined clay cement.
A major aspect of this work involves determining the onset point of over-calcination in kaolinite clays and developing rapid and practical methods to assess the quality of calcined clays at an industrial scale. Additionally, the role of associated minerals is investigated to understand their effect on physical and chemical properties after calcination. The characterization of calcined clays includes techniques such as Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformation Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope, Density measurements, Particle size distribution and pozzolanic reactivity tests. Beside kaolinite, smectite clay is also studied to analyze differences in phase change and pozzolanic reactivity. This enables us to expand the range of clay resources suitable for production of LC3.