Technical Papers
Jul 26, 2023

Development of Reactive MgO Cement-Silica Fume–Based Strain-Hardening Engineered Cementitious Composite

Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 10

Abstract

MgO-based cementitious materials have attracted increasing attentions due to their advantages of low energy consumption, fire resistance, and low CO2 emission. This study develops a new reactive MgO cement (RMC)-silica fume (SF) engineered cementitious composite (ECC). The effects of RMCSF mass ratio, fiber type, fiber content, and curing conditions on the mechanical properties and strain-hardening behavior of the RMC-SF ECC are investigated. The hydration characteristics of RMC-SF ECC under different curing conditions were studied through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. It was found that the RMC-SF ECC obtained a tensile strain capacity of 5.7%. Polyethylene (PE) fibers achieved higher compressive strength, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers yielded better tensile strain capacity. A RMC-SF mass ratio of 11 obtained a higher ductility under high temperature curing at 50°C. Although carbon dioxide curing improves the mechanical properties of RMC-SF ECC due to the formation of MgCO3, it greatly reduces its ductility. A large amount of brucite and M─ S─ H gels were generated under room temperature curing with plastic wrap.

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Data Availability Statement

All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (E2022201011), Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (QN2022067), Science and Technology Project of Hebei Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (C20220309), and High-level Innovative Talents Program of Hebei University (521100221036). Thanks to the University of Canterbury for the experimental materials and test platform.

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Go to Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35Issue 10October 2023

History

Received: Jun 8, 2022
Accepted: Mar 10, 2023
Published online: Jul 26, 2023
Published in print: Oct 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 26, 2023

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Assistant Professor, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Hebei Univ., Baoding 071002, China; Assistant Professor, Engineering Research Center of Zero-Carbon Energy Buildings and Measurement Techniques, Ministry of Education, Hebei Univ., Baoding 071002, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9076-0147. Email: [email protected]
Associate Professor, School of Ecology and Environment, Beijing Technology and Business Univ., 33 Fucheng Rd., Beijing 100048, China. Email: [email protected]
Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK (corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8258-3227. Email: [email protected]

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