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 Blended at the company-owned facility in Navasota Texas, this mix has been used in various forms of construction for at least 2000 years. "Roman Concrete" was first used by the Romans as their primary building material for the Roman road--still in use today, and other structures including those still partially in tact at Caesarea, the coliseums, and other Roman buildings. The Romans baked oyster shells in large cauldrons, crushed them to make quick-lime, mixed volcanic ash and added water to make concrete. First Materials & Technology, Inc. produces TRU-BLN®, a modern version of the Roman Concrete. TRU-BLN® is a pulverized quick-lime and fly ash mix used for soil stabilization. This and other blended materials are produced at our Navasota plant.Lime-Fly Ash (LFA) Stabilization with TRU-BLN® Typical Application  TRU-BLN® is ideally suited for stabilization/treatment of soils including fine sands, silts, and low to moderate-plasticity clays where cement, fly ash, lime, and lime-fly ash mixes may be specified. For fine sands, silts, and lean clays with a plasticity index (PI) below 20, thorough mixing of the soil and TRU-BLN® can usually be achieved in about four passes with a pulverizing mixer. For lean clays with Pls above about 20 and fat clays, a "two-phase operation" consisting of an initial mixing followed by a one to three-day curing period may be appropriate to allow reaction of the clays with the quicklime. Application of TRU-BLN®, moisture conditioning, if required, and mixing should follow the applicable LFA specification. The resulting treated mixture should meet the gradation requirements of the applicable authority for LFA, or:
Typically, no additional mixing is required if the grading requirements of the applicable LFA specification are met after the first mixing. Compaction should also meet the requirements of the applicable LFA specification. Chemical Reaction  The chemical reactions that occur with TRU-BLN® are very similar to those that occur with lime and fly ash. Quicklime is the parent product of hydrated lime. High calcium quicklime typically contains about 95% calcium oxide (CaO) and a small percentage of magnesium oxide (MgO). When water is made available, a chemical reaction occurs producing calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), or hydrated lime containing generally 72 to 74% calcium oxide.The hydrated lime may react with the soils. In clay soils, the hydrated lime causes a textural change involving a change in the clay microstructure through cation exchange and flocculation. With the textural change, improved compaction characteristics and increased strength occur. Also in clays, the lime reacts with the clay minerals (silicates and aluminates) in a pozzolanic reaction to form complex calcium silicate aluminates (C-S-H) similar to those produced by the hydration of cement in concrete. In fine sands and silts where little or no clay is available to react with the hydrated lime, the addition of fly ash, a pozzolan, produces a similar pozzolanic reaction. The hydrated lime reacts with the fly ash to form C-S-H and promote strength gain. Fly Ash  Fly ash is used in our products to cause the proper chemical reactions that result in a more stabilized soil and a stronger building surface. To get an idea of why fly ash is important to soil stablization, it is important to review how it is created, the essential parts of its composition, and it's other uses, primarily to add strength and durability to concrete.Fly ash is a product derived from coal burning power plants and commonly used as a pozzlan in the construction industry. It is formed from the non-combustible minerals found in coal. Powdered coal is conveyed by air to a furnace where the carbon is ignited in an atmosphere of 1900° to 2100° F. The non-combustible minerals become molten as they are carried through the firing zone by the air stream. As the molten minerals solidify in this moving air stream, approximately 60% of the particles become spherical. Essentially, it's name is derived from the fact that the resulting particles literally "fly" through the process. Chemical Interaction of Fly Ash with Concrete-Making Materials Similar in the manufacturing process for Portland cement where raw materials are fired at 2700° F, these non-combustible minerals become reactive due to the formation of amorphous silica in the coal-fired furnace. This silica and it's reactive properties are the key elements in the process as cement solidifies to become concrete. Likewise, those same elements and their reactions are important when using our products for soil stabilization. The chemical elements of Portland cement and fly ash are similar. But when comparing chemistries of the two, there are some differences--the most significant resulting from the calcium oxide content. For each cubic yard of Portland cement concrete, approximately 20% of the weight of the cement is converted to calcium hydroxide during hydration, a by-product of the calcium oxide's reaction which adds nothing to the strength of concrete. Also, calcium hydroxide is water soluble and may be removed from concrete by leaching action and is prone to chemical attack. In time, this affects the durability and performance of the concrete. To rectify these problems, fly ash is mixed with Portland cement. The calcium hydroxide combines with the fly ash and forms a more stable and strong cementitious compound which is no longer susceptible to leaching or chemical attack. The table below compares the chemical composition of TRU-BLN® to Fly Ash.
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