Sodium aluminate to reduce the content of lithium salts in building chemistry applications

 
Lithium salts are additives that are regularly used in the building chemistry applications based on Calcium Aluminate Cements (CAC). These admixtures have the crucial role to counteract the negative effect of classical setting retarders on the hardening properties of CAC rich mortars. Facing up to repetitive increases of the price of lithium salts due the high consumption of lithium based products by the electric car industry, some investigations on the influence of a combination between a sodium aluminate based product and lithium carbonate on the applicative performances of a CAC rich mortar recipe were carried out at 23°C and 5°C - 50 RH. The overall properties conferred by the use of a sodium aluminate based additive in addition to a lithium salt in terms of mechanical properties but also of size variations and abrasion resistances present this additive as an alternative solution to significantly reduce the content of lithium salts in CAC rich mortars.