## 3 Results and Discussion  
Thermal analysis results for the SCM, mechanically activated SCM and quartz sand (non-mechanically activated as a reference sample) are shown in Figure 2. When analyzing the obtained graphical data, attention should be paid to the temperature range in a region of 576 \({}^{\circ}\)C. Thus, Thermogram 1, which corresponds to the SCM sample without preliminary mechanical activation, shows no thermal effects in this temperature region,  
Figure 1: Crystal lattice of saponite before and after mechanical activation. and Thermogram 2 (mechanically activated SCM) clearly indicates an endothermic peak at this temperature, which corresponds to quartz modification transformations (\(\alpha\rightarrow\beta\)). This can be explained by the fact that the layered structure of saponite is destroyed during its mechanical activation, and this process is accompanied by silicon dioxide release in the free form (Figure 2). This fact is illustrated by the thermal effect at 576 \({}^{\circ}\)C in Thermogram 3. [PERSON] [14] found that SCM mechanical activation increases the amorphous phase content, and an increase in the amount of the amorphous phase component in the mechanically activated saponite-containing material leads to an increase in the highly dispersed system activity. The calculated values of \(k_{\rm s}\) for highly dispersed SCM samples (Table 1) also confirm that mechanical activation (an increase in the specific surface area) leads to an increase in the material reactivity and, consequently, an increase in the binding properties. The thermal analysis of the mechanically activated SCM mixed with water (Figure 3) shows the presence of an exothermic effect at 850 \({}^{\circ}\)C, which is specific to the process of serpentine group mineral formation [20; 21]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline
**SCM Sample** & **Es, kJ/mol** & **M\({}_{\rm r}\)** & **Em, kJ/g** & **\(\alpha\)k\({}_{\rm r}\)** & **Sy\(\beta\)k\({}_{\rm s}\)** & **Es,** & **Ks\(\times\) 10\({}^{-5}\)** \\ \hline Mechanically activated & & & & & & \\ (15 min) & 1795 & 436 & 4.1 & 19.50 & 12,547 & 244.7 & 6.0 \\ Mechanically activated & & & & & & \\ (45 min) & 1795 & 436 & 4.1 & 20.70 & 26,955 & 557.9 & 13.6 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Properties of SCM samples studied. Figure 2: Thermal analysis of samples: 1—SCM; 2—mechanically activated SCM; 3—quartz sand (98% SiO\({}_{2}\)). This can be explained by the fact that SCM's mechanical activation leads to the release of free silicon and magnesium oxides that can react with each other to form serpentine minerals in the presence of water. Serpentine dehydration effects are present at a treatment temperature of 650-750 \({}^{\circ}\)C, and the meta serpentine structure is ordered with the release of forsterite (olivine group) at 850 \({}^{\circ}\)C [21,22]. Thermal analysis of the SCM mechanically pre-activated and thermo-modified at 850 \({}^{\circ}\)C shows the absence of temperature effects in the thermogram curve, which may indicate that all structural and chemical transformations in the mechanically activated SCM mixed with water are completed at this temperature. New structure generation from a mechanically activated sample can be represented by the following scheme in Equation (3):  
\[\text{MgO}+\text{SiO}_{2}\rightarrow\text{Mg}_{6}(\text{OH})_{8}[\text{Si}_ {4}\text{O}_{10}]\rightarrow\text{Mg}_{2}\text{SiO}_{4}+\text{H}_{2}\text{O} \hskip 56.905512 pt850\ ^{\circ}\text{C} \tag{3}\]  
The experiments were followed by evaluating the specific surface area, porosity, and pore size of samples of mechanically activated SCM mixed with water before and after thermal modification. The results of the experiment are presented in Table 2.  
According to the research results, the thermal modification of the mechanically activated SCM mixed with water significantly reduces the specific surface area (up to 50 times), porosity (up to 50 times), and pore diameter (up to 20 times).