4D nanoimaging of early age cement hydration.
Nat Commun
; 14(1): 2652, 2023 May 08.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37156776
ABSTRACT
Despite a century of research, our understanding of cement dissolution and precipitation processes at early ages is very limited. This is due to the lack of methods that can image these processes with enough spatial resolution, contrast and field of view. Here, we adapt near-field ptychographic nanotomography to in situ visualise the hydration of commercial Portland cement in a record-thick capillary. At 19 h, porous C-S-H gel shell, thickness of 500 nm, covers every alite grain enclosing a water gap. The spatial dissolution rate of small alite grains in the acceleration period, â¼100 nm/h, is approximately four times faster than that of large alite grains in the deceleration stage, â¼25 nm/h. Etch-pit development has also been mapped out. This work is complemented by laboratory and synchrotron microtomographies, allowing to measure the particle size distributions with time. 4D nanoimaging will allow mechanistically study dissolution-precipitation processes including the roles of accelerators and superplasticizers.
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MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article