Logo image
Back
Damage development in cementitious materials exposed to magnesium chloride deicing salt
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Damage development in cementitious materials exposed to magnesium chloride deicing salt

Yaghoob Farnam, Andrew Wiese, Dale Bentz, Jeffrey Davis and Jason Weiss
Construction & building materials, v 93, pp 384-392
15 Sep 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.06.004
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Brucite Calcium oxychloride Concrete Damage Deicing salt Freeze–thaw Magnesium oxychloride Magnesium silicate hydrate (M–S–H) Phase change
•Concrete exposed to MgCl2 follows the Ca(OH)2–CaCl2–H2O phase diagram.•MgCl2 interacts rapidly with concrete developing damage and degradation.•MgCl2 causes a significant decrease in fluid ingress into exposed concrete. Magnesium chloride (MgCl2) is used in deicing applications due to its capability to depress freezing temperatures to a lower point than other salts such as sodium chloride (NaCl). The constituents of concrete (i.e., pores solution, calcium hydroxide, aluminate phases, and calcium silicate hydrate gel) can alter the MgCl2–H2O phase diagram when it is used to interpret the performance of concrete. Different chemical reactions may concurrently occur between MgCl2 and cementitious constituents to form brucite, Friedel’s salts, magnesium silicate hydrate, magnesium oxychloride, and/or secondary calcium oxychloride. In this study, it was observed that MgCl2 can be entirely consumed in concrete by the chemical reactions and produce CaCl2. As such, it was found that MgCl2 interacts significantly with a cementitious material and it follows a response that is more similar to the Ca(OH)2–CaCl2–H2O phase diagram than that of the MgCl2–H2O phase diagram. Mortar samples exposed to low concentration MgCl2 solutions (<10% by mass) for a short duration of freezing and thawing showed damage due to ice formation, while for higher concentrations (⩾10% by mass), the damage was most likely due to the chemical reactions between MgCl2 and cementitious constituents at room temperature (23°C). These chemical reactions occurred rapidly (within 5–10min) and caused a significant decrease in subsequent fluid ingress into exposed concrete.

Metrics

49 Record Views
96 citations in Web of Science
106 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#12 Responsible Consumption & Production

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Construction & Building Technology
Engineering, Civil
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Logo image