Magnesium Oxychloride Cement Composites Lightened with Granulated Scrap Tires and Expanded Glass

A Review of the Environmental Benefits of Using Wood Waste and Magnesium Oxychloride Cement as a Composite Building Material

There is an increasing awareness of the negative environmental impact produced by human activity worldwide. The scope of this paper is to analyze the possibilities of the further use of wood waste as a composite building material with magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC), and to identify the environmental benefits offered by this solution. The environmental impact of improper wood waste disposal affects both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Moreover, burning wood waste releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing various health problems. The interest in studying the possibilities of reusing wood waste increased significantly in recent years. The focus of the researcher shifts from considering wood waste as a burning fuel to generate heat or energy, to considering it as a component of new building materials. Combining MOC cement with wood opens the possibility of creating new composite building materials that can incorporate the environmental benefits offered by the two materials.

Magnesium Potassium Phosphate Cement-Based Derivatives for Construction Use: Experimental Assessment

The presented research is focused on the development and testing of the magnesium potassium phosphate cement-based materials (MKPC-based). Firstly, the fresh state properties of the pastes consisting of dead burned magnesia powder, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, setting retarder borax applied in the range of 0-10 wt.%, and batch water were investigated. The aim of testing was to characterize the hydration process in dependence on the borax content. The properties of raw MgO powder were described by chemical composition and particle size distribution. The properties tested in fresh state included shear stress (viscosity), Young's modulus of elasticity, and temperature; their time dependence was observed. The measurements started immediately after the mixing process. At the age of 14 days, basic structural and mechanical properties of the hardened pastes were obtained. The mixture with 5 wt.% of borax proved to be the most advantageous in terms of setting time, sample integrity, and mechanical strength; therefore, it was chosen as the binder for the following part of the study-MKPC-based mortar development. In the next step, the MKPC paste containing 5 wt.% of borax was supplemented by silica sand aggregate, and the resulting material was marked as a reference. Subsequently, three other mixtures were derived by replacing 100% of quartz sand by lightweight aggregate; namely by expanded glass aggregate, waste rubber from tires, and combination of both in ratio 1:1. The aggregates were characterized by chemical composition (except for the rubber granulate), and loose and compacted powder density. For the resulting hardened composites, basic structural, hygric, strength, and thermal parameters were investigated. The use of lightweight aggregates brought in a considerable decrease in heat transport parameters and low water permeability while maintaining sufficient strength. The favorable obtained material properties are underscored by the fact that magnesia-phosphate is considered to be a low-carbon binder. The combination of magnesia-phosphate binder and recycled aggregate provides a satisfying, environmentally friendly, and thermally efficient alternative to traditional Portland cement-based materials.

Perspective of Using Magnesium Oxychloride Cement (MOC) and Wood as a Composite Building Material: A Bibliometric Literature Review

The building industry is known as one of the biggest consumers of natural resources and an important producer of CO₂ emissions. The biggest greenhouse gas emissions are recorded in the production of cement and metallic building materials. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) can be used as an alternative to the ordinary Portland cement in the mixture of wood–cement composite building materials in order to decrease the negative impact of the construction industry on the environment. The research methodology includes bibliometric literature research, a scientometric analysis and an in-depth discussion. The data used for the research were obtained by interrogating the ISI Web of Science database, selected using the guidelines of the PRISMA method and processed with the help of VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software. The research results indicate an increasing interest in this topic; for example, in the last five years, three times more articles were published on the subject of MOC cement than the number of all articles collected in previous years. Compared to ordinary Portland cement, MOC cement presents a good match with wood, so MOC can be a substitute for ordinary cement to manufacture wood-cement particleboard, especially for the wood species that have high incompatibility with ordinary cement.

Effect of Calcination Temperature on Mechanical Properties of Magnesium Oxychloride Cement

In order to make full use of magnesium chloride resources, the development and utilisation of magnesium oxychloride cement have become an ecological and economic goal. Thus far, however, investigations into the effects on these cements of high temperatures are lacking. Herein, magnesium oxychloride cement was calcinated at various temperatures and the effects of calcination temperature on microstructure, phase composition, flexural strength, and compressive strength were studied by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and compression testing. The mechanical properties varied strongly with calcination temperature. Before calcination, magnesium oxychloride cement has a needle-like micromorphology and includes Mg(OH)₂ gel and a trace amount of gel water as well as 5 Mg(OH)₂·MgCl₂·8H₂O, which together provide its mechanical properties (flexural strength, 18.4 MPa; compressive strength, and 113.3 MPa). After calcination at 100 °C, the gel water is volatilised and the flexural strength is decreased by 57.07% but there is no significant change in the compressive strength. Calcination at 400 °C results in the magnesium oxychloride cement becoming fibrous and mainly consisting of Mg(OH)₂ gel, which helps to maintain its high compressive strength (65.7 MPa). When the calcination temperature is 450 °C, the microstructure becomes powdery, the cement is mainly composed of MgO, and the flexural and compressive strengths are completely lost.

Research and Engineering Application of Salt Erosion Resistance of Magnesium Oxychloride Cement Concrete

Aiming at the problem that ordinary cement concrete is subjected to damage in heavy saline soil areas in China, a new type of magnesium oxychloride cement concrete is prepared by using the gelling properties of magnesium oxychloride cement in this study, and the erosion resistance of the synthesized magnesium oxychloride cement concrete in concentrated brine of salt lakes is studied through the full immersion test. The effects of concentrated brine of salt lakes on the macroscopic, microscopic morphology, phase composition and mechanical properties of magnesium oxychloride cement concrete are investigated by means of macro-morphology, erosion depth, SEM, XRD and strength changes. The salt erosion resistance mechanism of magnesium oxychloride cement concrete is revealed. The results demonstrate that under the environment of full immersion in concentrated brine of salt lakes, there is no macroscopic phenomenon of concrete damage due to salt crystallization, and the main phase composition is basically unchanged. The microscopic morphology mostly changes from needle-rod-like to gel-like. Due to the formation of a new 5·1·8 phase on the surface layer and the increase in compactness, its compressive strength has a gradual increase trend. Based on the engineering application of magnesium oxychloride cement concrete, it is further confirmed that magnesium oxychloride cement concrete has excellent salt erosion resistance and good weather resistance, which provides theoretical support for future popularization and application.

Foam Glass Lightened Sorel's Cement Composites Doped with Coal Fly Ash

Lightweight Sorel’s cement composites doped with coal fly ash were produced and tested. Commercially available foam granulate was used as lightening aggregate. For comparison, reference composites made of magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) and quartz sand were tested as well. The performed experiments included X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, light microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy analyses. The macro- and microstructural parameters, mechanical resistance, stiffness, hygric, and thermal parameters of the 28-days matured composites were also researched. The combined use of foam glass and fly ash enabled to get a material of low weight, high porosity, sufficient strength and stiffness, low water imbibition, and greatly improved thermal insulation performance. The developed lightweight composites can be considered as further step in the design and production of alternative and sustainable materials for construction industry.

Study on Preparation and Properties of Intrinsic Super-Hydrophobic Foamed Magnesium Oxychloride Cement Material

As we all know, magnesium oxychloride foamed cement material has poor water resistance, leading to a decline in application value. In our research, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and triethoxy-1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-tridecylfluoro-n-octylsilane (FAS) were pre-cohydrolyzed to prepare the overall super hydrophobic magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) foamed material, and its structure and performances were systematically studied. The results show that adding organosilane can make it have overall hydrophobicity under the premise of maintaining the compressive strength. Mechanical abrading and chemical corrosion tests show its good engineering durability. The maximum moisture absorption rate dropped by 16.2%, and the quality can be restored to 98.1% of the original quality after dehumidification. All these properties show that the hydrophobic foamed magnesium oxychloride cement has potential engineering application value.