Joseph Davidovits Quotes

[G]eopolymeric cements are chemically comparable to the natural cements that bind such stones as , puddingstone, and fossil-shell .

What about the Cheops pyramid? ...We have the core, this is the mass, more than 2 million tons ...made of ...reagglomerated limestone. But ...in the ...inner ...it is made of granite ...carved stone. Why? Cheops... is Khnum Kufu... agglomerated stone. However, Pharaoh is the king of the two countries. ...[T]he pyramids must be the representation of Egypt,... which means ...the replication of agglomerated stone for the northern part ....and in the south, natural granite that is the carving technology. So we have agglomerated limestone for the core, and the King's chamber is made of split granite that is dressed [cut] ...not carved granite.

In my pursuit to develop new inorganic polymer materials, I was struck by the fact that the same simple hydrothermal conditions governed the synthesis of some organic plastics in alkali medium, as well as s and s. Thus and polycondense into... ... On the other hand, the reacts with NaOH at 100-150°C and polycondenses into hydrated ... or hydroxysodalite... I proceeded... to develop amorphous to semi-crystalline three-dimensional silico-aluminate [-Si-O-Al-O-] materials, which I call... s (mineral polymers resulting from or geosynthesis).

The second verb is... khusi that means to erect, to build, to construct, and you see that the verb has a determinative that is a man pounding something in a mold. So this is the making of agglomerated stone. This is the making of bricks, and this is the making of stone.

In... 1983, with Joseph Sawyer as head of Lone Star's research laboratory... I started to develop early high-strength geopolymeric binders and cements based on based on both geopolymeric and hydraulic cement chemistries. Within one month Lone Star Industries Inc. formed the development company, PYRAMENT... exclusively dedicated to... this new class of cement. ...It was discovered that the addition of ground blast furnace slag, which is a latent hydraulic cementitious product, to the poly(sialate) type of geopolymer, accelerates the setting time and... improves compressive and flexural strength. The first Davidovits and Sawyer patent was filed in... 1984... The corresponding European patent... in 1985... and these... disclose our preliminary finding...of 1983. Geopolymer cements are acid-resistant cementitious materials with zeolitic properties that can be applied to long-term containment of hazardous and toxic wastes.

There is no way of distinguishing a synthetic zeolite from a natural one.

[T]he real breakthrough took place when, in 1978-1980, we developed... a -based geopolymeric liquid binder comprising soluble alkali-silicate... the first mineral resin ever manufactured. ...The commercial product ...Geopolymite^TM, was a good fire resistant alternative to organic resin.

Just after, what we have is the starting of making a small pyramid in carved stone. ...We have here the pyramid of Ouserkaf (2460 B.C.)... just after the pyramid of Giza. It is just a heap of small stones... this one is totally destroyed and ...[the (2650 B.C.)] is still there. ...[T]his is big difference between a building made out of agglomerated stone and a small building made out of carved stone. ...It is no longer this very powerful and important technology...

[W]e discover that for Cheops, for the builder of the most impressive monument of antiquity, its actual name is Knum Kufu: may the god Khnum protect Cheops. ...The pyramids must have been done within the technology associated with Khnum, which is agglomeration.

Egyptian alchemists developed vibrant blue enamel... a by-product of copper . ...[A]n experimenter mixed a powder of with and applied a flame. The... hard, glossy blue enamel... was ...applied to beads and pebbles.

For the god creation is the divine incarnation in the agglomeration of stone.

I am a research scientist specializing in low-temperature mineral synthesis. In 1972 I founded the private research company CORDI (Coordination and Development of Innovation), and, in 1979, the Geopolymer Institute, both in France. At the Geopolymer Institute a new branch of chemistry that I named ization. I currently have more than twenty-five international patents for geopolymeric products and processes. My products are made... by large manufacturers. The products have many diverse applications.

The god Khnum is depicted... on his potter wheel... creating the body of the and his ka and his eternal soul by petrifying, by using clay. ...[H]e kneads humanity and the gods with clay and silt. ...[T]his is the Genesis that we are accustomed to read in the Bible, and it is also the type of Genesis that is depicted in the Quran. ...The ka is the soul in eternal stone.

reacts with lime and water to produce caustic soda, the main ingredient for alchemically making stone. An abundance of lime would have been available by calcining in simple hearths.

... form[s]... one of the major areas of materials science. ...Inorganic chemistry concerns basic molecules such as s, metals, s, and minerals. ...[M]ost of the raw materials for geopolymer synthesis are rock-forming minerals. ...There are numerous reasons for being interested in mineral polymers, more specifically in geopolymers. One is to get fire and heat properties that cannot be covered by organic materials. Another is the bridge... between polymer science and ceramics.