Advances in the hydration of reactive MgO cement blends incorporating different magnesium carbonates

Dung, N.T. and Unluer, C. (2021) Advances in the hydration of reactive MgO cement blends incorporating different magnesium carbonates. Construction and Building Materials, 294, 123573. (doi: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.123573)

Abstract

Hydration of reactive magnesia cement (RMC) is limited by the formation of a Mg(OH)2 surface-layer on unreacted MgO particles. This study improved RMC hydration by using magnesium acetate (MA), along with hydromagnesite (H) and magnesite (M) as RMC replacements. While MA accelerated hydration and resulted in the formation of needle-like artinite, inclusion of M led to rosette-like crystals. The accumulated nucleation and growth of low-crystallinity Mg(OH)2 on H particles in a bird nest-like arrangement was observed for the first time in literature. This low-crystallinity Mg(OH)2 could be prone to carbonation. The replacement of up to 40% RMC with M in the presence of MA improved the compressive strength of RMC samples by 240%. This performance enhancement was supported by microstructure densification via the compact formation of hydrate and carbonate phases, defining M as a feasible partial RMC substitute.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Singapore MOE Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (RG 95/16) for the completion of this research project.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Unluer, Dr Cise

Creator Roles

Unluer, C.: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Dung, N.T., and Unluer, C.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Infrastructure and Environment
• Journal Name: Construction and Building Materials
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0950-0618
• ISSN (Online): 1879-0526
• Published Online: 18 May 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Construction and Building Materials 294: 123573
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License