Technological properties of national commercial lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA)

Abstract

This work is a first approaching to the properties of a national commercial lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA). Five groups of aggregates were studied, the classification was based on their color and morphology. Some digital images of the LECA were taken to describe the microstructure. Moreover, the texture was determinated and the mineralogical phases developed because of the sintering process were identified. The results obtained allow defining strategies in the selection of the raw material, the improvement of conformed and the sintering process in order to obtain LECA with homogeneous characteristics that attend the needs of a variety of applications, such as civil use and environmental technology. Furthermore, these results confirm the importance of the characterization strategies carried out.