MACRO DEFECT FREE MATERIALS; THE CHALLENGE OF MECHANOCHEMICAL ACTIVATION

Macro-defect-free (MDF) materials belong, according to Odler’s categorisation, to the type of materials where polymers may be successfully combined with cements and water to produce also the parameters of technological novelty and interests. A challenge, which has not been followed or indicated by now, is the option to intensify mixing of dry cement and polymer. The mechanochemical pre-reactions of dry MDF raw mixes consisting of Portland cement and polyphosphate, together with the model of atomic-level interpretations of the formed functional interfaces are proposed, experimentally tested and discussed in the present paper. The results ultimately show the activation of studied system due to the mechanochemical treatment, which consists in the initiation and measurable formation of Al(Fe)–O–P cross-links already in the treated raw mixes. The mechanochemical activation of raw mixes in the high energy planetary mill for the duration of 5 minutes is proposed as the specific mixing and activation / pre-reaction step within the entire MDF synthesis procedure