INFLUENCE OF THE MINERALOGICAL COMPOSITION, SPECIFIC SURFACE-AREA ANDSTRAINS - CRYSTALLITE SIZE OF ALITE ON THE COMPRESSIVE MECHANICAL STRENGTH OF PORTLAND MORTARS .1. CLINKERS OF LOW TRICALCIUM ALUMINATE CONTENTS

Various statistical methods have been used to investigate the influenc e of the clinker features (mineralogical composition specific surface area and, especially, strains and crystallite size of alite) on the 1, 3, 7 and 28-day compressive mechanical strength of a series of Portla nd cement mortars of low C3A contents. As a result we have developed a new mathematical model based on the linear weights of the considered variables that might be of help to understanding the complex hydrolysi s of minerals in Portland cement. For this purpose we have chosen a la rge set of clinkers obtained at kiln no. 3 of the Cementos del Atlanti co S.A. factory (Alcala de Guadaira, Seville, Spain), where alite, bel ite and tricalcium aluminate occur essentially in their rombohedral, b eta and cubic form, respectively, while the ferrite phase occurs in it s rhombic form. The clinkers were prepared from two types of marls tha t were drawn from Alcala de Guadaira (Seville) and Moron de la Fronter a (Seville). We performed hourly samplings in order to obtain a daily average clinker.