Effect of MgO and Na 2 SiO 3 on the carbonation resistance of alkali activated slag concrete
Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of magnesium oxide (MgO) on the carbonation resistance of alkali-activated slag–fly ash blend containing 75% ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and 25% low-calcium fly ash. Two types of GGBS were used with different magnesium oxide content. Phenolphthalein indicator and pH profiles showed that the GGBS with higher levels of magnesium oxide offered no significant improvement in resistance against natural and 1% accelerated carbonation. X-ray diffraction confirmed no hydrotalcite formation, although the magnesium oxide content was 9·1%. A very small amount of free magnesium ions (Mg 2+ ) was available in the pore solution, which was deemed insufficient to form hydrotalcite. Lack of its formation was the major reason for the lower carbonation resistance. Excessive silicate in the system reduces the calcium oxide/silicon dioxide ratio, which leads to the incorporation of magnesium ions in the calcium silicate hydrate structure. Hydrotalcite was observed when the activator concentration was reduced. The results suggest that in addition to magnesium and aluminium ion (Al 3+ ) availability, silicate concentration also plays a strong role in deciding the hydrotalcite formation in alkali-activated GGBS concrete.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Improved carbonation resistance of alkali-activated slag with higher Mg content is linked to the presence of a hydrotalcite-like layered double hydroxide phase that sequesters carbonate anions.
“For example, Bernal et al. and Khan et al. linked improved carbonation resistance to the presence of a hydrotalcite-like layered double hydroxide (LDH) phase (with composition Mg1-xAlx(OH)2An-x/n·mH2O, where x = 0.17–0.33 and An− is an anion42) which sequesters carbonate anions within its layered structure37,38,43.”
From Spatially resolved nanostructural analysis of disordered phases in carbonated alkali-activated slag (2025) · cites this paper as [38]
Multiple studies have shown improved carbonation resistance of alkali-activated slag with higher Mg content of slag.
“Multiple studies have shown improved carbonation resistance of AAS with higher Mg content of slag37–41.”
From Spatially resolved nanostructural analysis of disordered phases in carbonated alkali-activated slag (2025) · cites this paper as [38]
Cites
Anion-Exchange Properties of Hydrotalcite-Like Compounds
Miyata, S. (1983) · Clays and Clay Minerals · doi:10.1346/ccmn.1983.0310409 · Cited by 1,751 · see citing works
Soil Chemical Methods - Australasia
Rayment, G. E., & Lyons, D. J. (2010) · CSIRO Publishing eBooks · doi:10.1071/9780643101364 · Cited by 1,195 · see citing works
Hydration products of alkali activated slag cement
Wang, S.-D., & Scrivener, K. L. (1995) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/0008-8846(95)00045-e · Cited by 997 · see citing works
Haha, M. B., Lothenbach, B., Saoût, G. L., & Winnefeld, F. (2011) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2011.05.002 · Cited by 919 · see citing works
Provis, J. L., & van Deventer, J. S. J. (2013) · RILEM state-of-the-art reports · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7672-2 · Cited by 916 · see citing works
Physico-Chemical Properties of Synthetic Hydrotalcites in Relation to Composition
Miyata, S. (1980) · Clays and Clay Minerals · doi:10.1346/ccmn.1980.0280107 · Cited by 840 · see citing works
Expression and analysis of pore fluids from hardened cement pastes and mortars
Barneyback, R. S., & Diamond, S. (1981) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/0008-8846(81)90069-7 · Cited by 608 · see citing works
The experimental investigation of concrete carbonation depth
Chang, C.-F., & Chen, J. (2006) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.07.025 · Cited by 600 · see citing works
Haha, M. B., Lothenbach, B., Le Saout, G., & Winnefeld, F. (2012) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2011.08.005 · Cited by 580 · see citing works
Bernal, S. A., San Nicolas, R., Myers, R. J., Mejía de Gutiérrez, R., Puertas, F., van Deventer, J. S. J., & Provis, J. L. (2014) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2013.12.003 · Cited by 493 · see citing works
Pore solution chemistry of alkali-activated ground granulated blast-furnace slag
Song, S.-J., & Jennings, H. M. (1999) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/s0008-8846(98)00212-9 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
Functional Fillers for Plastics
(2005) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/3527605096 · Cited by 408 · see citing works
Effect of Carbonation on Alkali‐Activated Slag Paste
Palacios, M., & Puertas, F. (2006) · Journal of the American Ceramic Society · doi:10.1111/j.1551-2916.2006.01214.x · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Kayali, O., Khan, M. S. H., & Ahmed, M. S. (2012) · Cement and Concrete Composites · doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2012.04.009 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Self-citationA preliminary study on the alkali activation of ground granulated blast-furnace slag
Douglas, E., & Brandštetr, J. (1990) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/0008-8846(90)90008-l · Cited by 160 · see citing works
A study on the passive state stability of steel embedded in activated fly ash mortars
Bastidas, D. M., Fernández‐Jiménez, A., Palomo, A., & González, J. A. V. (2008) · Corrosion Science · doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2007.11.016 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Free and water soluble chloride in concrete
Haque, M. N., & Kayyali, O. A. (1995) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/0008-8846(95)00042-b · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Fernández, L., Alonso, C., Hidalgo, A., & Andrade, C. (2005) · Advances in Cement Research · doi:10.1680/adcr.2005.17.1.9 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Khan, M. S. H., Kayali, O., & Troitzsch, U. (2016) · Materials and Structures · doi:10.1617/s11527-016-0810-z · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Self-citationThe interaction of magnesium in hydration of C3S and CSH formation using 29Si MAS-NMR
Fernández, L., Alonso, C., Andrade, C., & Hidalgo, A. (2008) · Journal of Materials Science · doi:10.1007/s10853-008-2889-2 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Structure and Properties of Hydrotalcite Using Electrostatic Potential Energy Model
Ni, Z., Pan, G., Wang, L., Yu, W., Fang, C.-P., & Li, D. (2006) · Chinese Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1360/cjcp2006.19(3).277.4 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 22 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Recent progress in low-carbon binders
Shi, C., Qu, B., & Provis, J. L. (2019) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2019.05.009 · Cited by 718 · see citing works
Ke, X., Bernal, S. A., Provis, J. L., & Lothenbach, B. (2020) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2020.106158 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Comparisons of alkali-activated binder concrete (ABC) with OPC concrete - A review
Xue, C., Sirivivatnanon, V., Nezhad, A. A., & Zhao, Q. (2022) · Cement and Concrete Composites · doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2022.104851 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Azar, P., Patapy, C., Samson, G., Cussigh, F., Frouin, L., & Cyr, M. (2024) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2024.107525 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Effects of temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration on concrete carbonation
Liu, P., Chen, Y., & Yu, Z. (2019) · Magazine of Concrete Research · doi:10.1680/jmacr.18.00496 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Ke, X., & Duan, Y. (2021) · Composites Part B Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.compositesb.2021.108801 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
A parametric study of accelerated carbonation in alkali-activated slag
McCaslin, E. R., & White, C. E. (2021) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2021.106454 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Gomes, S. D. C., Nguyen, Q. D., Li, W., & Castel, A. (2025) · Cement and Concrete Research · doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2025.107899 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationLi, Z., Hua, Y., Chang, Z., Yue, Y., Qin, J., & Qian, J. (2023) · Journal of Building Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2023.107082 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Suescum-Morales, D., Bravo, M., Silva, R. V., Jiménez, J. R., Fernández, J. M., & de Brito, J. (2022) · Construction and Building Materials · doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.127999 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Gluth, G. J. G., Ke, X., Vollpracht, A., Weiler, L., Bernal, S. A., Cyr, M., Dombrowski-Daube, K., Geddes, D. A., Grengg, C., Galliard, C. L., et al. (2022) · Materials and Structures · doi:10.1617/s11527-022-02041-4 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Passivation and depassivation of reinforcement steel in alkali-activated materials—A review
Xu, X., Hu, X., Khaskhoussi, A., & Shi, C. (2024) · Cement and Concrete Composites · doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2024.105802 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Zhang, M., Wang, F., Long, Y., Yu, L., Yang, C., Wen, M., Yu, X., Tian, Y., & Zhao, M. (2021) · Applied Clay Science · doi:10.1016/j.clay.2021.106379 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Gomes, S. D. C., Nguyen, Q. D., Li, W., & Castel, A. (2024) · Construction and Building Materials · doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.139064 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Self-citationShi, P., Falliano, D., Yang, Z., Marano, G. C., & Briseghella, B. (2024) · Journal of Building Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2024.109552 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Zhao, C., Li, J., Zhu, Z., Guo, Q., Wu, X., Wang, Z., & Zhao, R. (2024) · KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering · doi:10.1007/s12205-024-1767-z · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Gomes, S. D. C., Pang, Y. Y., Nguyen, Q. D., Li, W., Vessalas, K., & Castel, A. (2025) · Journal of Building Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2025.111996 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationMa, Y., Zhang, J., Yang, X., Yang, Z., Zhang, Z., & Wang, H. (2025) · Construction and Building Materials · doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2025.140823 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Research Progress in Corrosion Mechanism of Reinforced Alkali-Activated Concrete Structures
Zhang, F., Xi, X., & Yang, S. (2021) · Corrosion and Materials Degradation · doi:10.3390/cmd2040034 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Durability properties of copper slag and fly ash based concrete for a sustainable environment
Rekha, S., Jagadheeswari, Arunprasath, & Sumathy (2020) · Materials Today Proceedings · doi:10.1016/j.matpr.2020.08.490 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Composite foamed alkali-activated concrete with slag and steel slag
Zeng, L., Guo, P., Wang, W., Zhang, Y., Wang, S., & Peng, X. (2018) · Magazine of Concrete Research · doi:10.1680/jmacr.17.00128 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Öztürk, Z. B., Eser, A., & Yıldız, B. (2025) · JOM · doi:10.1007/s11837-025-08016-4 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Zhang, M., Zhang, H., Tang, H., Ye, J., Sun, Y., Bu, C., Zhang, J., Gu, F., Wang, Z., & Li, X. S. (2025) · Materials and Structures · doi:10.1617/s11527-025-02596-y · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Research Progress on Carbonation Resistance of Alkali-Activated Slag Cement Concrete
Zhang, L. F., Yang, L., Fu, B. H., & Yu, Y. (2021) · Materials science forum · doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.1036.347 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Spatially resolved nanostructural analysis of disordered phases in carbonated alkali-activated slag
McCaslin, E. R., James, M. C., Almer, J., Cai, Z., Kenesei, P., Park, J.-S., & White, C. E. (2025) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67179-5 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Yan, X., Jiang, L., Song, Z., & Chen, Y. (2019) · Magazine of Concrete Research · doi:10.1680/jmacr.19.00023 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Li, D., Liu, G., Wei, X., Wang, X., Zhao, Y., Cao, Y., & Li, Z. (2025) · Advances in Cement Research · doi:10.1680/jadcr.25.00062 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Ren, Z. H., Doh, J., Sun, T., Liu, J., Wipulanusat, W., & Ong, D. E. L. (2026) · Next Materials · doi:10.1016/j.nxmate.2026.103197
Comprehensive Evaluation of Coal-Fired Bottom Slag as a Precursor for Alkali-Activated Materials
Wen, J., Mao, Y., & Wei, Y. (2026) · Materials · doi:10.3390/ma19183896
- Authors
- Khan, M. S. H., & Castel, A.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Khan, M. S. H.
- Venue
- Magazine of Concrete Research
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 685-692
- ISSN
- 0024-9831 (ISSN-L)
- 1751-763X
- OpenAlex
- W2769953888
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Magazine of Concrete Research (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- CRC for Low Carbon Living
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Concrete and Cement Materials Research
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Concrete Corrosion and Durability
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Magnesium Oxide Properties and Applications
- Keywords
- alkali-activated slag concrete, carbonation resistance, magnesium oxide, sodium silicate activator, ground granulated blast furnace slag, Class F fly ash, calcium silicate hydrate, silicate concentration, accelerated carbonation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
