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As natural resources are rapidly depleting and the demand of cement based products in construction industry is continuously increasing, there is a pressing need for finding alternatives without large penalties in terms of mechanical properties. Another issue to be resolved is related to current design guidelines developed for traditional cement based materials (e.g. mortar and concrete). Zeolites, either natural or synthetic, are crystalline alumina silicates with pozzolanic activity in cement based materials that...

Zeolites can either occur naturally, in volcanic rock formations, or can be synthesized in the laboratory. When ground to a fine powder, they can be successfully used as supplementary cementitious material because of their chemical composition consisting in large amounts of SiO2 and Al2O3 that react with Ca(OH)2 to produce C-S-H gels. The composition of synthetic zeolites can be tailored to suit the purpose of their use in cementbased mortar and concrete and they can be produced from a variety of sources and at mu...