Effects of a new modifier on the water-resistance of magnesite cement tiles

The magnesium oxychloride composite is an inorganic cementitious material with high bending and compression strength in air characteristics. However its strength decreases significantly after immersion in water. The preparing process of a new magnesite cement tile using nano rice husk ashes and a complex water-resistance agent as modifiers was described in the paper. The effects of low-temperature rice husk ashes (RHAs) and the complex water-resistance agent constituted with phosphoric acid, calcium superphosphate, wooden calcium and styrene-acrylic emulsion on the water-resistance of magnesite materials were mainly studied. The samples properties were characterized by XRD, SEM, BET, a laser particle size analyzer and bending test. The experiments show that the proportional addition of nano RHAs markedly increases the water-resistance of magnesite materials without reducing the bending strength and promotes the softening coefficient from 0.29 to 0.78, while the softening coefficient reaches up to 0.97 combined with the use of complex water-resistance agent. The new magnesite cement tiles prepared were not scumming, not warping, and not contracting at room temperature for 360 d. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.