• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.275-281
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• 2017

This study examined the effect of water-to-binder ratio (W/B) and phosphate-to-binder ratio (P/B) on the flow, setting time, compressive strength development, and pH variation of magnesium-potassium phosphate composites, MKPC mortars. Ten mortars mixtures were prepared with the W/B varying from 20% to 40% at each P/B of 0.3 or 0.5. The hydration products and microstructural pore distribution of the MKPC pastes were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). The initial flow and setting time of MKPC mortars tended to decrease with an increase of P/B, indicating that the final setting time was shortened by approximately 24% when P/B increased from 0.3 to 0.5. The slope of the early-strength development measured in the MKPC mortars was considerably higher than that of cement concrete specified in code provisions. For obtaining a relatively good 28-day strength (above 30 MPa) and a near neutral pH (below 9.0) in MKPC mortars, the P/B and W/B need to be selected as 0.5 and 30%, respectively. The strubite-K crystal increased with the increases of P/B and W/B, which leads to the decrease of the macro-capillary pores.