Quantitative Discrimination of the Nano-Pore-Structure of Cement Paste during Drying: New Insights from Water Sorption Isotherms
Abstract
A new ability to quantitatively evaluate the complex pore system of cement pastes, using water sorption isotherms, is used to illuminate: (a) evolutions of microstructure during drying, (b) the mechanisms that control drying shrinkage, and (c) a novel method to compute the original w/c (i.e., water-to-cement ratio, mass basis). Each of these points has significant implications on concrete performance and durability in engineering practice. We show that irreversible changes in the nanostructure during first drying are associated with changes in the pores that empty between ≈ 85-and-45% relative humidity (RH). It is also shown that water in the interlayer space (e.g., similar to clays) of the binding calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) phase, does not empty until drying below ≈ 25% RH. However, this water, once removed, does not completely re-saturate the pore spaces even at nearly 100% RH - for time scales on the order of weeks. With the ability to specifically identify the volume of pores associated with the C-S-H gel, as opposed to the larger capillary pores and the smaller interlayer spaces, a method for computing the original w/c (and hence cement content), of cementitious material is proposed. These results suggest improved methods for evaluating and modeling the engineering behavior of cement-based materials.
Recommended Citation
H. M. Jennings et al., "Quantitative Discrimination of the Nano-Pore-Structure of Cement Paste during Drying: New Insights from Water Sorption Isotherms," Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 76, pp. 27 - 36, Elsevier Ltd, Oct 2015.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2015.05.006
Department(s)
Materials Science and Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Adsorption (C); Calcium-silicate-hydrate [C-S-H] (B); Cement Paste (D); Drying (A); Drying (A)
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0008-8846
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Oct 2015
Comments
The authors acknowledge full financial support for this research provisioned by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and National Science Foundation (CAREER Award #: 1253269 , and CMMI: 1066583 ).