Study of the Effect of MgO on Alite Polymorphism and Its Subsequent Effect on the Hydration Properties

Author(s): Nikhila Balasubramanya, Nibedita Dutta, and Amit Chatterjee
Paper category: Proceedings
Book title: Proceeding of the 71st RILEM Annual Week & ICACMS 2017
Editor(s): Manu Santhanam, Ravindra Gettu, Radhakrishna G. Pillai, Sunitha K. Nayar
ISBN:978-2-35158-195-7, 978-2-35158-190-2 (Set)
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-191-9
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2017
Pages: 537-546
Total Pages: 10
Language : English

Abstract: The effect of MgO on the alite (C3S) polymorphism synthesized using pure CaO, and SiO2 precursors are studied in this paper. Rietveld method based on X-ray diffraction analysis is used to quantitatively analyze the phases formed. This paper discusses the effect of MgO on the formation of two main polymorphs M1 and M3 which have been researched widely. M1 has been stated to have higher reactivity than M3 hence giving a better 1-day strength in cement. In this paper, it is found that the addition of MgO favored the M3 type alite and that increasing the amount of MgO beyond 2% significantly stabilized the belite phase. Isothermal calorimetry of the synthesized samples indicated a larger heat evolution during hydration of the M1 polymorphic form of Alite than M3 indicating higher reactivity. Scanning electron microscopy and Energy dispersive spectroscopy are attempted to study the evolution of the composition of alite specimens with time during hydration. Keywords: Alite polymorphism, rietveld analysis, microstructure, isothermal calorimetry

Online publication :2017
Publication type :full_text
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