Fire safety in the built environment is a major concern that is sometimes still taken lightly. Experience has shown that the current technological solutions do not always hold up to the intended fire protection, and this has resulted in various serious catastrophes. This NWO (Dutch research council) funded project intends to bring to market an all-round lightweight fire-protective coating product with flexible application by 3D spraying-printing for full protection purposes. Industrial by-product ladle slag from Tata Steel IJmuiden will be used as the major resource. This research will evaluate the effects of the industrial cooling procedure and weathering on the cementitious property of ladle slag and an industrial processing guideline will be proposed, targeting a high cementitious property. Then, an eco-activating system will be proposed, aiming at the promoted reaction rate, which will result in a high performance geopolymer binder product, with special attention to its high temperature response. Carbon dioxide will be then investigated as an aerating agent by applying a novel mechanical foaming method to enhance the fire property, achieving simultaneously excellent fire extinguishing properties as well as carbon emission reduction. 3D spray printing will be investigated in order to apply this new lightweight coating product to substrates with various profiles to explore its flexible adaption potential. Furthermore, the developed product will be tested for in-field application, where the integrity of the product under various influences. In addition, numerical thermal-physical-mechanical models will be developed from nano- to macro-scale to understand the in-situ fire response and predict its fire behavior under different engineering scenarios.
The two PhD candidates, cooperated with one postdoc researcher (position will be announced later), will join the
Building Materials Group which contains 25 PhDs, 3 postdocs, 2 assistant professors, 1 associate professor, and 2 full professors. This research group works on new, sustainable, and circular building materials containing or synthesized from secondary raw materials with good chemical, physical and aesthetic properties, and added functionalities. Examples are natural fibers, fly ashes, nano-silica, aerogels, slags or recycled aggregates. Functionalities, including fire resistance, air purification, self-cleaning, high performance, and hydrophobicity, are investigated and developed for these building materials. Moreover, durability and sustainability, such as the degradation of, or leaching from, building materials when exposed to aggressive service environments, are studied. The investigations are carried out based on experimental observations and modeling.
The research group possesses a well-equipped, state-of-the-art building material laboratory for physical/chemical/mechanical/environmental treatment, testing and recycling, and has access to the structural design laboratory at the same department, and shares facilities with the sister Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. The group has close contacts with the building material industry and frequently cooperating with other researchers, both domestic and international.