The mechanism of hydration of MgO-hydromagnesite blends

The hydration of reactive periclase (MgO) in the presence of hydromagnesite (Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2·4H2O) was investigated by a variety of physical and chemical techniques. Hydration of pure MgO-water mixtures gave very weak pastes of brucite (Mg(OH)2), but hydration of MgO-hydromagnesite blends gave pastes which set quickly and gave compressive strengths of potential interest for construction applications. The strengths of the blends increased with hydration time at least up to 28 days, and were not significantly decreased by increasing the hydromagnesite content up to 30%. Raman spectroscopy suggests that an amorphous phase, of composition between that of brucite, hydromagnesite and water, may form. Small amounts of calcite also form due to CaO in the MgO source. Thermodynamic calculations imply that the crystalline phase artinite (MgCO3·Mg(OH)2·3H2O) should be the stable product in this system, but it is not observed by either XRD or FTIR techniques, which suggests that its growth may be kinetically hindered.