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Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Volume 2018, Article ID 9816923, 7 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9816923
Research Article

Experimental Study on the Concrete with Compound Admixture of

Iron Tailings and Slag Powder under Low Cement Clinker System
Ruidong Wu and Juanhong Liu
College of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Correspondence should be addressed to Juanhong Liu; liujuanhong66@126.com
Received 11 June 2018; Revised 30 July 2018; Accepted 3 September 2018; Published
23 September 2018
Academic Editor: Ali Nazari
Copyright © 2018 Ruidong Wu and Juanhong Liu. This is an open access article
distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

Abstract
In order to study the performance of concrete with compound admixture of iron tailings
and slag powder under low cement clinker system, the mixture ratio of different iron
tailings powder and slag powder was designed to prepare C30 and C50 concrete. The
workability, strength, carbonation depth, chloride diffusion coefficient, scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD)
of concrete were measured, respectively. The test results show that iron tailings powder is
beneficial to improve the workability, and the strength of concrete decreases with the
increase of iron tailings powder content, while the carbonation depth and chloride
diffusion coefficient increase with the increase of iron tailings powder content. Under
low cement clinker system, the iron tailings powder should not be used alone (below 70%
of mineral admixture). When the ratio of iron tailings to slag powder is 1 : 1, the strength,
carbonation depth, chloride ion permeation coefficient, and the microstructure of concrete
are roughly the same to that of concrete with single slag powder. So, the iron tailings
powder can replace S95 grade slag powder in the same quantity. Iron tailings powder
does not take part in hydration reaction, but it can improve particle gradation, reach close
accumulation, and increase the quantity of central grains.

1. Introduction
Iron tailings are the waste slag of iron ore after ore dressing process. They are the
residues of iron ore through crushing, screening, grinding, grading, gravity separation,
flotation, or cyanidation, but there are still many parts of them which can be recycled [1].
Unfortunately, limited by the mineral processing technology, production equipment, and
other scientific and technological factors, the current situation of iron tailings’ secondary
utilization in China is not optimistic. The data show that the comprehensive utilization
ratio of tailings in China is only 7%, which is far from 60% of developed countries such
as the United States, Japan, and Russia, to name a few [2–7]. With the economic
development, the infrastructure construction throughout the country is also ongoing,
resulting in the increase of cement and concrete consumption. According to statistics, the
national cement production in 2016 has exceeded 2.4 billion tons, which is more than half
of the world’s total cement production. At the same time, it must be noted that limestone,
as a raw material, will produce a large amount of greenhouse gas in the high temperature
calcination process.
It is understood that one ton of cement clinker could produce one ton of carbon dioxide.
In China, the cement industry produces more than 5% of the world’s total carbon
emissions. Reducing cement consumption is an effective and necessary way to alleviate
global warming and other environmental problems. Furthermore, high quantities of
cement in the concrete can easily cause cracks. Cracks have great effect on the durability
of concrete, resulting in poor corrosion resistance and short service life [8–10]. More and
more scholars have found that using mineral admixtures instead of cement clinker can
improve the shrinkage and microstructure of concrete and enhance the performance of
concrete [11–14]. Therefore, reducing the amount of cement is of great significance to
improve the durability of concrete, protect global environment, and save cost. Based on
the above analysis, our study was conducted under the low cement clinker system.
With the rapid development of high performance concrete, the consumption of mineral
admixtures, especially fly ash and slag powder, is increasing. These mixtures are
commonly used but not abundant in some areas, which leads to the rising price of raw
materials and market unbalance. Take economic and environmental factors into
consideration, iron tailings powder is an excellent admixture for concrete. It can not only
solve the problem of tailings utilization but also alleviate the shortage of concrete
admixture. At present, some scholars have realized the significance of iron tailings as
concrete admixture and focused their efforts on the strength and durability of concrete
[15–19]. This paper aimed to explore the effect of iron ore tailings powder and slag
powder composite admixture on the strength, durability, and micromorphology of
concrete under low cement clinker system. The optimal dosage and mechanism of iron
tailings powder were revealed finally.

2. Materials and Mix Proportion

2.1. Raw Materials
In order to eliminate the influence of some uncertain components in cement, a reference
cement is adopted in the tests. Its main properties are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Main properties of reference cement.
The water requirement ratio of iron tailings powder is 90%, and the specific surface area
is 450 m2/kg. Iron tailings powder contains some metal elements, such as copper, iron,
zinc, etc. The main chemical compositions are shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Main chemical composition of iron tailings powder.
Here, the S95 slag powder is used, with the density of 2.8 g/cm3, the specific surface area
of 485 m2/kg, and the water requirement ratio of 96.2%. All the indexes are in accordance
with the national standard.
The coarse aggregate is divided into big stone and small stone, and the diameters are 10–
20 mm for big stone and 5–10 mm for small stone The ratio of big stone to small stone is
8 : 2. The fine aggregate is made of natural river sand, with less mud (laboratory
empirical value is 5.2%). The fineness modulus is 2.7, and the gradation is good. The
additive is 20% polycarboxylic acid plasticizer (PC) produced by Sika Company.
2.2. Mix Proportion
Concerning environmental and economic factors, the proportion of cement to
cementitious material in the mix ratio of C30 and C50 concrete of low cement clinker
system is 40% and 50%, respectively.
In order to study the effect of iron tailings powder on concrete performance, the ratio of
iron tailings powder to slag powder was designed as 0 : 10, 3 : 7, 5 : 5, 5 : 5, and 10 : 0.
Due to the low activity of iron tailings powder, with the increase of content, the water to
binder ratio of concrete decreases with iron tailings powder, so the strength can meet the
requirements. The water to binder ratio (W/B) decreases with the increase of iron tailings.
Details are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Concrete mix proportion (kg·m−3).
3. Results and Discussions
After 10 groups of slump, carbonation depth, and chloride diffusion coefficient tests,
experiment results are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Experiment results of concrete.

3.1. Workability of Concrete

On the premise of using the same PC amount, the slump of concrete in each group is
tested separately, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Slumps of concrete.
The slump of C30 and C50 concrete increases with the addition of iron tailings powder.
When adding equal amount of admixture, the working performance of concrete with iron
tailings powder is better than that of concrete with single slag powder. The addition of
iron tailings fines will improve the particle size distribution of cementitious materials.
However, there is a certain range of optimum particle gradation. The slump of C50
concrete with single iron tailings has a downward trend. Iron tailings powder is beneficial
to improve the workability and pumping performance of concrete.
3.2. Compressive Strength of Concrete
Table 5 shows the testing of 3 d, 7 d, and 28 d compressive strength of C30 and C50
concrete, respectively.
Table 5: Compressive strength at different ages of concrete (MPa).
It can be seen from Table 5 that the strength of concrete decreases with the increase of
iron tailings powder content. The 28 d compressive strength of groups A1 and B1 is the
highest, and the strength of groups A5 and B5 is the lowest. C30 concrete has higher W/B
and less cementitious material. Because of the high activity of slag powder, the addition
of iron tailings powder has an effect on the early strength of concrete. C50 concrete has
lower W/B, larger amount of cementitious material, and longer hydration time of
cementitious materials. Microaggregate effect of iron tailings powder plays a role and has
little effect on early strength or even a slight improvement. From the perspective of
strength, under the low clinker system, the iron tailings powder should not be mixed
alone, and the iron tailings powder should not exceed 70% of the mineral admixture. The
most reasonable ratio of iron tailings powder and slag powder for comprehensive
economic and environmental consideration is 5 : 5.
3.3. Carbonation Depth
The carbonation depth of C30 and C50 concrete is measured, respectively, and the results
are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Concrete carbonation depth.
From Figure 2 and Table 5, it can be seen that the carbonation depth increases with iron
tailings powder in the same strength grade, and the carbonation depth of concrete
decreases with the increase of 28 d strength. The carbonization depth of A1 and B1
groups with single slag powder is the smallest, and the difference between the groups
with iron tailings less than 70% of the mineral admixture and the single slag powder is
not significant. The carbonization depth of the A5 and B5 group with single iron tailings
powder is the largest, which increases by 36.4% and 163% compared with the single slag
powder group. It indicates that the influence of iron tailings powder addition on high
strength concrete is greater than that of low strength concrete.
3.4. Chloride Diffusion Coefficient
In order to study the chloride ion permeability of concrete, the chloride diffusion
coefficient of concrete groups after 28 days of standard curing was measured by NEL
method (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete.
With the increase of iron tailings powder content, the chloride diffusion coefficients of
C30 and C50 concrete all show an overall increasing trend.
The chloride diffusion coefficient of C30 group was always higher than that of C50
group. When the content of iron tailings powder exceeds 70%, the chloride diffusion
coefficient increases significantly. Therefore, from the chloride ion penetration resistance
perspective, iron tailings powder should not be mixed alone, and the amount of iron
tailings powder should not exceed 70%. Otherwise, there will be great influence on the
chloride ion permeability of concrete.
When the content of the iron tailing powder is 50%, the chloride diffusion coefficient of
the concrete is little different from that of the single slag powder. The chloride diffusion
coefficient of C30 group rises by 37.2%, and the C50 group rises by 9.5%. The gap is far
less than the concrete with the iron tail mineral content of 70% and 100%. In the case of
no great influence antichloride permeability performance concrete, the addition of slag
powder and iron tailings micropowder with the ratio of 5 : 5 is the most optimal
determination.
3.5. Microscopic Test of Concrete
Laser particle size analysis of slag powder, iron tailings powder, and cementitious
material system of 50% slag powder and 50% iron tailings powder is carried out. The
results are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Particle size distribution of cementing materials.
Figure 4 shows that the particle size of slag powder is fine, the particle size of iron
tailings powder is coarse, the particle size of 50% iron tailings powder and 50% slag
powder is between the two, the particle gradation is better, and the iron tailings powder
plays a microaggregate effect. The effect of microaggregate can make all kinds of
particles accumulate tightly. At the same time, after the introduction of iron tailings with
very low activity, there are more unhydrated particles in the concrete. According to the
central material hypothesis [20], such particles belong to the subcentral substance. The
central network formed by the superposition of the favorable effect of subcentral quality
is beneficial to the homogeneity of concrete. The addition of iron tailings powder can
increase the number of central matter, reduce the distance between central matter, and
improve the effect degree, thus improving the performance of concrete eventually.
The 28 d microstructure of A1, A3, A5, B1, B3, and B5 concrete was observed by a
scanning electron microscope (SEM), an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and an
X-ray diffractometer (XRD), respectively, as shown in Figures 5–9.
Figure 5: SEM images of C30 concrete: (a) A1, (b) A3, and (c) A5.
Figure 6: SEM images of C50 concrete: (a) B1, (b) B3, and (c) B5.
Figure 7: Energy spectrums of paste from Figures 5(b) “1” and 5(c) “2”: (a) EDS from
Figure 5(b) and (b) EDS from Figure 5(c).
Figure 8: Energy spectrums of paste from Figures 6(b) “3” and 6(c) “4”: (a) EDS from
Figure 6(b) and (b) EDS from Figure 6(c).
Figure 9: XRD of C30 and C50 concrete: (a) C30 and (b) C50.
The microstructure of C50 concrete is more dense than that of C30 concrete. The
microcosmic morphology of A1 and B1 groups with single slag powder is the densest,
and the hydration products are the most. The A3 and B3 groups are also dense. The
hydration morphology is not very different from that of A1 and B1. The microstructure of
A5 and B5 groups is relatively loose. This is also consistent with the results of
compressive strength, carbonation depth, and chloride permeability coefficient, which
explains the macroscopic properties from microcosmic. The EDS spectrum shows that
the main substance is Si and O, which is the same as the main components of iron
tailings. Combining with the SEM image and EDS energy spectrum, a small amount of
iron tailings can be observed in the A3 and B3 groups, and a large amount of iron tailings
are found in the A5 and B5 groups, indicating that iron tailings powder does not
participate in hydration and is an inactive admixture. In the hydration process of
cementitious materials, the main substances are calcium silicate hydrate
(3CaO·2SiO2·3H2O, C–S–H gel), SiO2, Ca(OH)2, ettringite
(3CaO·Al2O3·3CaSO4·32H2O,AFt), unhydrated cement particle tricalcium
silicate(3CaO·SiO2, C3A for short), and dicalcium silicate (2CaO·SiO2, C2A). The
hydrated calcium silicate C–S–H gel is the most important hydration product, but the C–
S–H belongs to the gel. And the XRD characterizes the crystal only, so there is no
diffraction peak of the C–S–H gel in the XRD diagram. Figure 9 is the XRD Atlas of C30
and C50 concrete. SiO2 is mainly derived from cement, slag powder, and iron tailings.
Through the XRD spectrum, the SiO2 diffraction peak of A5 and B5 groups with single
iron tailings is far greater than A1, A3, B1, and B3 groups. The SiO2 diffraction peak of
A1 and B1 group is the smallest because the activity of cement and slag powder is higher
and most of the hydration reaction has occurred, while the iron tailings powder is not
reacted, and the peak of the SiO2 diffraction peak is larger. It is also proved from
microcosmic aspect that iron tailings powder basically does not participate in hydration
reaction and has no activity.
Through microscopic test and analysis, it is found that iron tailings powder is inactive
and should not be used alone. When the ratio of iron tailings powder to slag powder is
1 : 1, the microscopic morphology of concrete is similar to that of single mixed slag
powder. The XRD spectra of hydration products are similar, thus explaining the
performance of macroscopic performance. Iron tailings powder can replace the S95 grade
ore powder in the same quantity to achieve the purpose of solid waste utilization, energy
saving, and emission reduction.

4. Conclusions
(1)Under low cement clinker system, iron tailings powder is beneficial to improve
workability and pumping performance of concrete.(2)The strength of 3 d, 7 d, and 28 d of
C30 and C50 concrete decreases with the increase of the iron tailings amount. For the
depth of carbonization and the permeability coefficient of chloride ions, it is
opposite.(3)Under low cement clinker system, iron tailings powder should not be used
alone, and the amount of iron tailings should not be greater than that of mineral
admixture 70%. When the ratio of iron tailings powder to slag powder is 1 : 1, the
strength, carbonation depth, and chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete are not much
different from that of single slag powder. Iron tailings powder can replace S95 grade slag
powder in the same quantity.(4)Iron tailings powder does not take part in hydration
reaction, but it can improve particle gradation and accelerate close accumulation. When
the ratio of iron tailings powder to slag powder is 1 : 1, the microstructure of concrete is
similar to that of single slag powder.

Data Availability
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding
author upon request.

Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this
paper.

Authors’ Contributions
Juanhong Liu and Ruidong Wu conceived and designed the experiments; Ruidong Wu
performed the experiments; Juanhong Liu contributed materials; and Juanhong Liu and
Ruidong Wu wrote the paper. All the authors read and approved the manuscript.
 Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (no. 11210107).

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Utilization of Stainless-steel Furnace Dust as an Admixture for Synthesis of
Cement-based Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Composites

 Yong Fan,
 Ling Zhang,
 Vladimir Volski,
 Guy A. E. Vandenbosch,
 Bart Blanpain &
 Muxing Guo

Scientific Reportsvolume 7, Article number: 15368 (2017) | Download Citation

Abstract

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding receives attention due to the increasing

abundance of electronics. The Cement based material can obtain EMI shielding
properties through the use of appropriate “fillers” such as carbon, metal, and ferrite. As
the most important by-product of stainless steelmaking operations, through the metal
droplets and ferrite that it contains, stainless-steel dust can be considered as a potential
filler for EMI shielding applications. We have therefore utilized stainless-steel dust as
an admixture for the synthesis of cement-based EMI shielding composites and show
that it raises the EMI shielding effectiveness. In particular, a 45 mass pct of stainless-
steel dust mixture of 5 mm thickness results in the enhancement of EMI shielding
effectiveness to 6–9 dB as tested in the frequency range of 500 MHz–1.5 GHz.

Introduction

Nowadays, the production of stainless steel is one of the most important and fastest
growing branches of the metallurgical industry all over the world. Figure 1 illustrates
the stainless steel meltshop production by regions. Worldwide stainless steel
production reached approximately 45.8 million metric tons in 2016, up from the 41.5
million metric tons produced in 2015. The rise was attributed to an increase in output
in China - the world’s largest stainless steel producing country - where production rose
by over 10 pct year-on-year to approximately 24.9 million metric tons in 2016 1. In the
stainless steel making process, between 30 and 70 kg of dust or fine waste is generated
per ton of steel. Stainless steel dust came from the flue gas because of the violent
agitation of molten steel in the furnace, was the mixtures of metals, slags, and gangues.
It newly formed, in the form of fine particulates, being carried away from the furnace
loads following with exhaust gases in the pipeline, and finally collected by bag filters
or electrostatic precipitators 2. In general, the exact composition of stainless-steel dust
is widely variable, and quite complex depending on the scrap types and other process
input materials3.
Figure 1

The stainless steel melt-shop production by regions.

Full size image

In view of developing a sustainable steel production, the potential of its residues as a

secondary resource must be considered to avoid landfilling. Recycling of stainless
dust, was studied by many researchers 4, makes it possible to recover valuable metals
such as iron, chromium, nickel, and zinc, whose are needed in stainless steel
manufacture and could be returned to the production procedure. This article provides a
proof-of-principle of a new high-value added application for stainless-steel dust,
namely, the use of stainless-steel dust as an admixture for enhancing electromagnetic
interference (EMI) shielding.

EMI shielding receives mounting attention due to the increasing presence of

electronics, such as communication and transportation systems, wireless LAN
networks, and personal digital devices. in both military application and civil life 5.
Accordingly, the EMI shielding material plays a paramount role in electromagnetic
pollution controlling, communication security, and ground/underground substation
containing central processing electronics, which are crucial to power transmission and
telecommunication. Many researchers 6 have investigated cement based material which
is not only a structural material, but also, have EMI shielding properties through
introducing “fillers”, for instance, carbon 7, metal8, and ferrite9 materials.

In general, the primary mechanism of EMI shielding is based on reflection of the

radiation through mobile charge carriers such as electrons, which interact with the
electromagnetic field10. There is no doubt that high conductivity materials such as
carbon or metal are suitable as fillers 11. The second mechanism of EMI shielding relies
on absorption of the radiation through electric and/or magnetic inlets that interact with
the electromagnetic fields. The magnetic dipoles might be provided by hematite,
magnetite or other ferrites with high magnetic permeability 12. Cao and Chung13 have
found that iron oxide in fly ash can enhance shielding through radiation absorption.
The effectiveness of fly ash for shielding is low compared to that of conductive
admixtures such as carbon based fillers 14. Nevertheless, fly ash is much lower in cost
than the conductive admixtures.

Stainless-steel dust is generated during the violent agitation of molten steel in the
stainless steel making process and is collected by bag filters or electrostatic
precipitators. This dust contains both metal droplets and ferrites that could be a
potential filler for EMI shielding function. Stainless-steel dust can be mixed into the
cement matrix for obtaining EMI shielding effect, which provides a practicable and
value-added way for its reutilization and/or recycling. In this paper, the effectiveness
of stainless-steel dust as an admixture for the synthesis of cement-based EMI shielding
composites is investigated experimentally.

Experimental Method

The stainless-steel dust obtained from a stainless steelmaker in Belgium was used in
the present experiments. The chemical composition of the dust was determined by
inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES, Varian 720 ES,
USA), was illustrated in Table 1. The mineral composition was determined with the
use of X-ray diffraction (XRD, 40 kV, 30 mA, Cu-Kα, SEIFERT 3003 T/T, Germany).
The morphology and mineral phase analysis of the dust particulates were studied by
scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS,
XL30FEG, Philips, USA) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA, JXA-8530F, Jeol,
Japan).

Table 1 The chemical composition of the stainless steel dust (mass pct).

Full size table

A typical Portland cement was employed in the experiments. 15, 30 and 45 mass pct of
stainless-steel dust were respectively added into the cement and mixed. 200 g each of
the mixtures was used to prepare a specimen of 5 mm thickness with a final ±0.3 mm in
precision. After mixing and homogenizing the cement and stainless-steel dust, water
was added to achieve a moisture content of approximately 30 mass pct. Shaping was
performed with a Teflon mold with dimensions of 140 mm in side length. Then,
specimens were dried for 48 hours in the fuming cupboard, demolded, and cured
finally at room temperature and humidity. Magnetite (Fe 3O4, >99.5 pct, Sigma-Aldrich,
USA), hematite (Fe2O3, >99 pct, Sigma-Aldrich, USA), and metallic iron (Fe, >99.5
pct, Emsure, Germany) were respectively used as filler for the sake of comparison in
proportions by weight relative to cement of 15 mass pct. The morphology and mineral
phase analysis of a typical sample obtained by the different conditions were
characterized using SEM-EDS and EPMA.

The shielding effectiveness was measured using a set-up based on the shielding
effectiveness test fixture EM-2017A as shown in Fig. 2(a). This set-up is composed of
two coaxial adapters, two attenuators and a spectrum analyzer (Keysight N9344C) with
a built-in tracking generator. The 10 dB, 50 Ω attenuator is used on each end of the
adapters. Their main purpose in this system is for impedance matching and used to
isolate the specimen holder from the signal generator and the receiver, in case of a
large reflection of energy back into the signal generator when testing a material. The
distribution of the electric field (E) and magnetic field (H) in the coaxial adapters is
shown in Fig. 2(b) 15. The shielding effectiveness of the specimens was determined by
two consecutive transmission measurements between the two adapters with and
without a sample present. The shielding effectiveness of the sample is calculated based
on the ratio between the two measured received power levels.

Figure 2

The coaxial adapters for EMI shielding measurement (a) and its electric (E)
and magnetic (H) field distribution (b).
Full size image

Results and Discussion

The stainless-steel dust particulates

The compositional analysis confirms the presence of iron, chromium, calcium,
magnesium, silicon, and zinc as the major metallic element in the stainless-steel dust,
and numerous other elements in lower concentrations, such as copper, manganese,
lead, aluminum, and nickel. The presence of heavy metals can pose threats to the
environment and human health, therefore this waste is considered hazardous in many
countries. The reusing and recycling of this waste should be carefully handled and
studied. Although the environmental impacts are beyond the scope of the present
study, future attention would have to be paid to these issues.

As was detected with XRD and shown in Fig. 3, major components of the stainless-
steel dust are solid iron oxides, but also chromium and zinc containing iron oxides are
present. Fe is mostly found as magnetite (Fe 3O4), chromite (FeCr2O4), franklinite
(ZnFe2O4) and Fe-Cr Alloy. There were also certain amounts of CaO and MgO present.

Figure 3
XRD patterns of the stainless-steel dust.
Full size image

Typical SEM and BSE images and point analysis of stainless-steel dust particulates are
shown in Fig. 4 and Table 2, which confirm the results from XRD. There are found
four major characteristic crystal phases in this typical stainless-steel dust sample, i.e.
(1) a round shape magnetite and/or chromite crystal (Fig. 4, phase 1) with less than
100 um diameter and a rough surface; (2) metallic Fe-Cr alloy round particles (Fig. 4,
phase 2) with a smooth surface; (3) lime and magnesia crystals with an irregular square
shape (Fig. 4, darker phase 3) have a rather wide size distribution with an average of
approximately 100 µm; (4) Another phase (Fig. 4, phase 4) has on average a small
crystal size and usually clusters together. It has a complicated composition with Fe as
the main metallic element but also containing amongst others Cr and Zn etc., briefly
whiten as (Fe, Cr, Zn) 3O4. Due to the complex morphology of stainless-steel dust, other
trace element phases are present which we will not further discuss here.

Figure 4

SEM and BSE images of stainless-steel dust particulates.

Full size image

Table 2 Point analysis of typical phases of stainless-steel dust particulates in

Fig. 4 (mass pct).

Full size table

Morphology of the Cement-based composites

Figure 5 shows the morphology of reference samples, namely, pure cement
(Cement100), 15 mass pct magnetite (Cement85 + Magnetite15) and hematite
(Cement85 + Hematite15) cement-based composites. The chemical composition of the
pure cement was as follows: CaO = 45.8 mass pct, SiO 2 = 38.4 mass pct, Al 2O3 = 9.4
mass pct, and Fe2O3 = 6.4 mass pct. These samples were measured in a series with dust
filler sample for comparison.

Figure 5
SEM and BSE images of reference samples.
Full size image

Figure 6 and Table 3 shows the morphology and point analysis of some phases in the
sample with 45 mass pct of stainless-steel dust mixed with pure cement (Dust 45).
Characteristic particulates from the dust could be found in this sample, namely, Fe-Cr
Alloy (Fig. 6, phase 1), (Fe, Cr)3O4(Fig. 6, phase 2), and (Ca, Mg)O (Fig. 6, phase 3).
The chemical composition of cement matrix (Fig. 6, area 4) had some variations due to
the mix with stainless-steel dust.

Figure 6

SEM and BSE images of the sample with 45 mass pct of stainless-steel dust.
Full size image

Table 3 Point analysis of typical phases of sample in Fig. 6 (mass pct).

Full size table

EMI shielding effectiveness and mechanism

The EMI of a shielding material is related to the residual traveling energy after
applying the shield. The residual energy is the energy that is neither reflected nor
absorbed by the shield but that emerges out of the shielding material. The attenuation
of an electromagnetic wave occurs by three mechanisms, as shown in Fig. 7, which are
reflection loss, absorption loss, and internal multiple reflections. The reflection loss is
caused by the reflection at the surface of the shield. The absorption loss of the waves
as it proceeds through the shield is the additional effects of multiple reflections and
transmissions in the interior of the shield. EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of a
material is measured in decibels (dB), defined as a ratio of the transmitted to the
incident power, and given as:

SE=−20lg(Pa/Pb)SE=−20lg(Pa/Pb)
(1)
Where P a and P b are the transmitted and incident electromagnetic power, respectively.
Total SE is a summation of shielding by absorption, reflection and multiple
reflections/transmissions in the interior of the material.

Figure 7

Attenuation of an electromagnetic wave by a shield.

Full size image

Coaxial transmission line measurement in the present study is performed in the

frequency range of 500 MHz–1.5 GHz. These frequency ranges are considerably
important for commercial applications, such as TV signal, Mobile phone, wireless
LAN and radar image.

The impact on the electromagnetic shielding of the reference sample and dust filler
sample of 5 mm thickness was analyzed as shown in Fig. 8. In general, the shielding
effectiveness of a cement based material correlates closely to the electric conductivity
and the electromagnetic parameters of the composite. The cement matrix (Fig. 8,
Cement100) is only slightly conductive, leading to its relatively low shielding
effectiveness. Ferrite like magnetite and hematite is distinguished magnetic loss
absorbent, which would result in electromagnetic energy absorption by polarization
mechanisms such as hysteresis loss and magnetic domain resonance. Magnetite has
stronger magnetism than hematite and shows an enhanced shielding effectiveness
when it added (Fig. 8, Magnetite15 & Hematite15) as a filler into the cement
composite. Metal materials belong to dielectric loss absorbents, which mainly attenuate
electromagnetic energy by electronic and ionic polarization. Metallic iron filler (Fig. 8,
Fe 15) illustrated a promising electromagnetic shielding effectiveness than ferrite
fillers. The dust filler with different weight mass percentage into the cement, namely
15 mass pct (Fig. 8, Dust15), 30 mass pct (Fig. 8, Dust30), and 45 mass pct (Fig. 8,
Dust45) indicated enhancement of the shielding effectiveness to the cement matrix.
The addition of stainless-steel dust alone to a cement composite sample raises the
shielding value. In particular, a 45 mass pct of stainless-steel dust mixture results in
the enhancement of EMI shielding effectiveness to approximately 6–9 dB as tested in
the frequency range of 500 MHz–1.5 GHz, emphasizes the incident electromagnetic
wave has been reduced by approximately 60 pct. This is believed to be attributed to the
metal droplets and ferrite embedded in the sample mixture, which comes from the
stainless-steel dust.
Figure 8

The shielding effectiveness of reference sample and dust filler sample of 5 mm
thickness.
Full size image

Most of the metallic absorbents used in cement matrix composites are steel fibers and
ferrites. Yang et al 16. have studied the wave absorbing property of steel fiber
reinforced concrete and found that a 31-mm-thick sample could give a peak value of
9.8 dB in the frequency range 2–18 GHz and the frequency bandwidth of 15–28 GHz
for 4 dB. By using Portland cement as the base material and fly ash as the admixture,
Cao and Chung13 have prepared the fabricated composite, which demonstrated EMI
shielding property. A 4.3 mm thick sample can have a shielding effectiveness of
approximately 4 dB in the frequency range 1.0–1.5 GHz. In addition, they suggest that
the existence of Fe2O3 in the fly ash can enhance shielding through absorption. In
general, reflection cannot eliminate or weaken radiation, and the reflected wave may
interact with the incident wave, which causes disturbance to other units or devices.
Only by using electromagnetic wave absorbing materials, which could transfer the
electromagnetic energy to other forms, the EMI radiation could be attenuated to the
furthest extent. The metal droplets and ferrite in stainless-steel dust are better choices
of wave absorbing components for cement based wave absorbing materials.

The effect of sample thickness on electromagnetic shielding for the dust filler materials
is shown in Fig. 9. It is clear that with the increase of sample thickness, the shielding
effectiveness is enhanced. The thickness of EMI shielding material is a crucial factor
to be considered in the future practical application. Stainless-steel dust, due to its low
cost, has competitive advantages in some cases, for instance, large underground or
remote information base construction, compared with other fillers.

Figure 9

The shielding effectiveness of dust filler sample in different thickness.

Full size image
There is an agreed account of efforts must be implemented to reuse the secondary
resource in various methods. Stainless-steel dust is usually valorized by extracting
metals or as additives for some construction materials. The present study attempts to
apply it to the cement matrix for obtaining EMI shielding function, which provides a
practicable and value-added way for its reutilization and/or recycling. Moreover, not
only by adding the dust up directly to cement matrix, through metallurgical pre-
treating, such as carbothermal reduction process, magnetization roasting, or controlled
molten oxidation17, the EMI effect of the product prepared with that modified
stainless-steel dust could be intensely improved. These emerging researches provide a
new direction for the application of solid wastes in the electromagnetic field.

Conclusions

The addition of stainless-steel dust as an admixture alone to a cement composite

sample raises the EMI shielding effect. In particular, a 45 mass pct of stainless-steel
dust mixture of 5 mm thickness results in the enhancement of EMI shielding
effectiveness to 6–9 dB as tested in the frequency range of 500 MHz–1.5 GHz,
emphasizes the incident electromagnetic wave has been reduced by approximately 60
pct. This is attributed to metal droplets and ferrite contained in the stainless-steel dust,
embedded in the sample reinforced mainly the absorption of the radiation. Moreover,
with the increase of sample thickness, the shielding effectiveness is also enhanced.

Additional information

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Acknowledgements

The author Yong Fan thanks the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
and Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Foundation for their finical supports. Special
thanks to Prof. Takashi Nakamura, and Prof. Shuji Nakamura (Nobel Laureate in
Physics 2014) for their serious discussion and humorous encouragement, which
inspired the author.

Author information

Affiliations
1. Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44 us 2450,
B-3001, Heverlee, Belgium
o Yong Fan
o , Ling Zhang
o , Bart Blanpain
o & Muxing Guo
2. Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, 2-
1-1 Katahira, Aobaku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan
o Yong Fan
3. Department of Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, B-3001, Heverlee, Leuven,
Belgium
o Vladimir Volski
o & Guy A. E. Vandenbosch

Contributions
Yong Fan proposed and performed the whole researches, and wrote the main
manuscript text. Ling Zhang helped to prepare the sample for experimental. Vladimir
Volskiy and Guy A.E. Vandenbosch provided the EMI test equipment and helped to
perfect the manuscript. Bart Blanpain and Muxing Guo helped the modification of the
whole manuscript.

Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Corresponding author
Correspondence to Yong Fan.
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