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Magnesia-Phosphate Cement (MPC) and MPC-Based Functional Materials

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2023) | Viewed by 6409

Special Issue Editor

Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, USA
Interests: future cements (cement efficiency enhancing strategies, novel supplementary cementitious materials, and alternative cements); solid waste upcycling; massive CO2 capture, utilization, and mineralization; thermal energy storage and micro-grid integration; materials characterization; multi-scale modeling; concrete durability; NDT and sensing; nano- and biological technologies in construction; and carbon-negative recovery of critical minerals (e.g., Ni, Co, Li, and Cu)
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Against the backdrop of Industry 4.0, which accentuates the customization of products and flexible manufacturing, the future cement industry will be one in which a toolkit of cements can be tailored to fulfill specific demands (e.g., cost, performance, and eco-efficiency). Portland cement, which is currently dominating the cement market, will not be able to fulfill all the demands; in particular, the poor eco-efficiency of Portland cement has been driving innovations to seek alternative cements that are either “greener” or manifest higher performance in specific applications. Magnesia–phosphate cement (MPC) is one of the alternative cements in the high-performance track. It can set quickly even at very low temperatures (<-10 ℃), and produce high-strength concrete with little shrinkage and superior durability (e.g., resistance to abrasion, frost, alkali–aggregate reaction, and sulfate attack). Because of these technical merits, MPC has been used in the fast repair of pavement and structures, the encapsulation of nuclear waste and toxic substances (e.g., heavy metals), and a series of other functional applications (e.g., the development of acid-resistant composites for bipolar plates of fuel cells). While MPC has broader applications because of its advantages, its wide-spread application as a general cementitious binder has been limited by several issues. First, MPC is not eco-efficient. The production of dead-burnt MgO from magnesite (not an abundant mineral) is highly energy- and CO2-intensive, and its use of phosphate means it competes for raw materials with agriculture. Therefore, MPC has never been an eco-efficient or cost-effective material. Second, the manipulation of workability (e.g., fluidity and setting time) is not an easy task. Third, MPC-based materials may soften when exposed to long-term immersion in water, because of the mild solubility of reaction products. Fourth, the industry has an anecdotal concern regarding the steel corrosion protectiveness of MPC because of its intrinsically low pH (8-10). To promote the application of MPC as well as to leverage its technical merits to improve the durability and sustainability of infrastructure, future studies are thus needed to: (1) improve the eco-efficiency and lower the cost of MPC by identifying and investigating alternatives to dead-burnt MgO and supplementary cementitious materials for MPC; (2) develop high-efficiency admixtures (e.g., composite retarder) for MPC; (3) address the water-/moisture-stability of MPC-based materials; and (4) prove the compatibility of MPC with steel and other reinforcements.    

The topics of interest of the present Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Eco-efficient alternatives to dead-burnt magnesia;
  • Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) for MPC;
  • Reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and thermodynamics of MPC, especially when SCMs are incorporated;
  • Fundamental properties and design theories of MPC;
  • MPC admixtures (e.g., retarder, water-reducer, and viscosity modifier);
  • Durability of MPC-based materials and structures;
  • MPC-based 3D printing;
  • MPC-based steel protection and fire retardance;
  • MPC-based energy-efficient building materials;
  • Reviews of practical applications of MPC in infrastructural engineering.

Dr. Hongyan Ma
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • MPC
  • magnesia
  • eco-efficiency
  • admixtures
  • performance
  • functional

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3773 KiB  
Article
Creep Deformation and Its Effect on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Magnesium Phosphate Cement Concrete
by Yuxin Gao, Jihui Qin, Zhen Li, Xingwen Jia and Jueshi Qian
Materials 2023, 16(5), 1760; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16051760 - 21 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1124
Abstract
Creep deformation is an important aspect of magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) used as a structural material. In this study, the shrinkage and creep deformation behaviors of three different MPC concretes were observed for 550 days. The mechanical properties, phase composition, pore structure, and [...] Read more.
Creep deformation is an important aspect of magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) used as a structural material. In this study, the shrinkage and creep deformation behaviors of three different MPC concretes were observed for 550 days. The mechanical properties, phase composition, pore structure, and microstructure of MPC concretes after shrinkage and creep tests were investigated. The results showed that the shrinkage and creep strains of MPC concretes stabilized in the ranges of −140 to −170 με and −200 to −240 με, respectively. The low water-to-binder ratio and the formation of crystalline struvite were responsible for such low deformation. The creep strain had almost no effect on the phase composition; however, it increased the crystal size of struvite and reduced the porosity, especially the volume of pores with diameters <20 nm and >200 nm. The modification of struvite and densification of microstructure led to an improvement in both compressive strength and splitting tensile strength. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnesia-Phosphate Cement (MPC) and MPC-Based Functional Materials)
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16 pages, 6964 KiB  
Article
Influence of Phosphorus Sources on the Compressive Strength and Microstructure of Ferronickel Slag-Based Magnesium Phosphate Cement
by Cuirong Yan, Hongyan Ma, Zhongqiu Luo, Xintao Zhou and Luxing Wang
Materials 2022, 15(5), 1965; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15051965 - 07 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1916
Abstract
Electric furnace ferronickel slag (EFS) is a typical magnesium-rich industrial by-product discharged from the manufacture of nickel and iron-nickel alloys. The approach to use it as the raw material for the preparation of magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) has potential and proves effective. In [...] Read more.
Electric furnace ferronickel slag (EFS) is a typical magnesium-rich industrial by-product discharged from the manufacture of nickel and iron-nickel alloys. The approach to use it as the raw material for the preparation of magnesium phosphate cement (MPC) has potential and proves effective. In this study, three different phosphorus sources (PS) including phosphoric acid (H3PO4, PA), sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4, SDP) and potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4, PDP) were used to react with EFS to prepare the EFS-based MPC (EMPC), and the effects of raw material mass ratio (EFS/PA, EFS/SDP, EFS/PDP) on the compressive strength, early hydration temperature and microstructure of EMPC pastes were investigated. Results showed that the compressive strength of EMPC paste is significantly impacted by the type of phosphorus source and the raw materials mass ratio. When the EFS/PDP ratio is 4.0, the compressive strength of the MPC paste reaches up to 18.8, 22.8 and 27.5 MPa at 3, 7 and 28 d, respectively. Cattiite (Mg3(PO4)2·22H2O), K-struvite (KMgPO4·6H2O) and/or Na-struvite (NaMgPO4·6H2O) were identified as the main hydration products of EMPC. The development of EMPC mainly involves the dissolution of a phosphorus source, MgO and Mg2SiO4, formation of hydration product as binder, and combination of the unreacted raw materials together by binders to build a compact form. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnesia-Phosphate Cement (MPC) and MPC-Based Functional Materials)
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12 pages, 3650 KiB  
Article
Hydration and Properties of Magnesium Potassium Phosphate Cement Modified by Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag: Influence of Fineness
by Kuisheng Liu, Shanliang Ma, Zengqi Zhang and Fanghui Han
Materials 2022, 15(3), 918; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15030918 - 25 Jan 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2163
Abstract
Magnesium potassium phosphate cement (MKPC) is an excellent rapid repair material for concrete, and many mineral admixtures have been applied to promote its performance. This study focuses on the quantitative characterization of the physical and chemical contributions of granulated blast-furnace slag with various [...] Read more.
Magnesium potassium phosphate cement (MKPC) is an excellent rapid repair material for concrete, and many mineral admixtures have been applied to promote its performance. This study focuses on the quantitative characterization of the physical and chemical contributions of granulated blast-furnace slag with various finenesses to the performance development of MKPC. It was found that the addition of slag could increase the setting time, which is mainly due to the dilution of cement. Fine slag tends to decrease the fluidity of MKPC mortar. The physical contributions of ordinary and ultrafine slag to the early performance of MKPC mortar are 23% and 30%, while the chemical contributions are only 6%~10%. At late ages, the physical contribution is less than 10% and the chemical contribution of slag is even slightly negative. The addition of slag is beneficial to the compact packing of MKPC, which is the main reason for the physical contribution. Slag could react in the MKPC system, and increasing the fineness significantly promotes the reaction kinetics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnesia-Phosphate Cement (MPC) and MPC-Based Functional Materials)
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