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Caneiras Bravo, Miguel Nuno

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  • Magnesia (MgO) production and characterization, and its influence on the performance of cementitious materials: a review
    Publication . Nobre, José; Hawreen, Ahmed; Bravo, Miguel; Evangelista, Luis; De Brito, Jorge
    This paper presents a literature review concerning the characteristics of MgO (magnesium oxide or magnesia) and its application in cementitious materials. It starts with the characterization of MgO in terms of production processes, calcination temperatures, reactivity, and physical properties. Relationships between different MgO characteristics are established. Then, the influence of MgO incorporation on the properties of cementitious materials is investigated. The mechanical strength and durability behaviour of cement pastes, mortars and concrete mixes made with MgO are discussed. The studied properties of MgO-cement mixes include compressive strength, flexural strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, water absorption, porosity, carbonation, chloride ion penetration, shrinkage, expansion, and hydration degree. In addition, microscopic analyses of MgO-cement mixes are also assessed. Summarizing the results of different studies, it is concluded that MgO incorporation in cementitious materials generally decreases the mechanical strength and shrinkage, and increases the porosity, expansion, carbonation and chloride ion migration. However, it should be emphasized that the properties of the specific MgO used (mainly the calcination temperature, the reactivity and the surface area) have a significant influence on the characteristics of the cementitious materials produced.
  • Performance of mortars with commercially-available reactive magnesium oxide as alternative binder
    Publication . Bravo, Miguel; Forero, Javier A.; Nobre, José; De Brito, Jorge; Evangelista, Luis
    This paper intends to analyze the performance of mortars with reactive MgO, as a sustainable alternative to cement. Six different MgOs from Australia, Canada, and Spain were used in the production of mortars as partial substitutes for cement, namely 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% (by weight). MgOs with different levels of reactivity were used to analyze its influence on the performance of MgO mortars. In order to evaluate the mechanical performance of these mortars, compressive strength, flexural strength, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests were performed. Compressive strength tests showed that the use of 25% reactive MgO can cause a decrease of this property of between 28% and 49%. The use of reactive MgO affected the other mechanical properties less. This paper also intends to analyze the durability performance of mortars with reactive MgO. To that effect, water absorption by capillarity was assessed. In this research, the effect of using MgO on the shrinkage was also analyzed. It was found that shrinkage may decrease by more than a half in some cases.