Hydration Behavior of Magnesium Oxysulfate Cement with Fly Ash via Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

Abstract

A new type of material, magnesium oxysulfate cement (MOSC), has attracted widespread attention as an environmentally friendly and low-energy inorganic green cementitious material due to its outstanding performance. In this study, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the hydration behavior and process of MOSC. EIS was also used to investigate the effect of fly ash (FA) on the hydration behavior of MOSC. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), backscattered scanning electron microscopy (BSE), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study the evolution of the pore structure and micromorphology of MOSC incorporated with FA. The results show that the resistance values (R1) in the equivalent circuit for MOSC increase with increasing curing time. The incorporation of FA can affect the resistance values for each element in the equivalent circuit. In the early stages of hydration (1 day and 2 days), high-volume FA can reduce the degree of hydration of MOSC paste. At the later stages of hydration, the resistance values (R1) increase with increasing FA content. The MIP, BSE, and SEM results also show that the porosity of MOSC decreases with increasing FA content; the incorporation of FA can significantly improve the morphology of MOSC, resulting in a denser microstructure. This study shows that the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a powerful technique to investigate the hydration behavior and process of MOSC, and the results also indicate that FA is a good mineral admixture used as a partial substitute for MOSC cementitious materials.