The Preparation and Properties of a Shell Structure Ceramsite

In this paper, a shell structure ceramsite has been prepared and researched in order to attempt a new method of producing lightweight ceramsite. In the experiment, raw material was made into slurry and polypropylene balls were treated with the soak-and-pick process in the slurry to make the green body; later, the green body was dried and fired in the furnace to make the shell structure ceramsite. The result showed that the shell structure ceramsite has an appropriate cylindrical compressive strength (0.87 MPa) with a bulk density at a low level (0.375 x 103 kg/m(3)), which can be used for lightweight concrete preparation, and with its special structure, it can be used for many other purposes.