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Related Concept Videos

Hydration of Cement01:24

Hydration of Cement

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Hydration of cement is a chemical reaction between cement particles and water. This process occurs primarily through two mechanisms: through-solution and topochemical. In the through-solution process, anhydrous compounds dissolve into their constituents, hydrates form in the solution, and then precipitate from the supersaturated solution. The topochemical process involves solid-state reactions at the cement particle surface. The through-solution process dominates the topochemical process at the...
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Strength and Heat of Hydration01:29

Strength and Heat of Hydration

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The hydration of cement is an exothermic reaction in which heat is generated as cement hydrates. This heat of hydration is critical to cement's strength development. The rate at which this heat is generated affects the temperature rise, with a majority of the heat being released early in the hydration process, half within the first three days, and about 75% within the first week.
The heat of hydration for each cement compound is significant; for instance, tricalcium aluminate (C3A) and...
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Porosity in Cement Paste01:18

Porosity in Cement Paste

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The porosity of concrete is a measure of the void spaces within its structure. These spaces impact its strength and durability significantly. When water and cement interact, a chemical reaction called hydration creates a semi-solid paste. This paste includes combined water, making up approximately 23% of the cement's dry mass, and gel water, which fills minuscule voids known as gel pores, accounting for about 28% of the cement gel volume.
The balance of water to cement in the mix is...
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Alkali Aggregate Reaction in Concrete01:26

Alkali Aggregate Reaction in Concrete

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The alkali-aggregate reaction in concrete involves natural siliceous minerals in aggregates reacting with alkaline hydroxides derived from cement alkalis. This reaction forms an alkali-silica gel that absorbs water, swells, and increases in volume, which is confined by the surrounding cement paste, creating internal pressures that crack and disrupt the concrete. The extent of expansion and damage can be partly attributed to the alkali-silica reaction's osmotic hydraulic pressure and the...
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Pozzolans01:21

Pozzolans

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Pozzolans are siliceous or aluminous materials blended with Portland cement. They interact with the calcium hydroxide produced during the hydration of Portland cement and contribute to improved strength and durability of concrete. The pozzolanic activity, a measure of a pozzolan's effectiveness, is typically assessed using the strength activity index, as defined in ASTM C 618-93, which calculates the ratio of the compressive strength of cement mixtures with and without pozzolan.
Fly ash is...
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Curing of Concrete01:20

Curing of Concrete

1.4K
The hydration of cement takes place within the water-filled capillary pores. However, environmental elements can disrupt this process by evaporating water from the concrete surfaces. Sealed concrete with a water-cement ratio below 0.5 experiences self-desiccation, leading to water loss. The water loss in concrete is mitigated by curing. This technique involves keeping the concrete saturated to maintain the necessary temperature and moisture conditions, to optimally fill the spaces in the cement...
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Combinatorial molecular optimization of cement hydrates.

M J Abdolhosseini Qomi1, K J Krakowiak1, M Bauchy2

  • 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, USA.

Nature Communications
|September 25, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Researchers optimized concrete's binding phase, calcium-silicate-hydrate, by screening its atomic structures. This approach identified optimal nanoscale mechanical properties for stronger, more sustainable concrete materials.

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computational Chemistry

Background:

  • Concrete is a ubiquitous building material with a significant environmental impact.
  • There is a growing need for stronger and stiffer concrete to reduce material usage.
  • Understanding concrete's molecular-level properties is crucial for developing advanced materials.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To optimize the properties of cement hydrates, the binding phase in concrete.
  • To explore a combinatorial approach for enhancing concrete's mechanical performance.
  • To identify relationships between atomic structure and macroscopic properties.

Main Methods:

  • Computationally generated a database of calcium-silicate-hydrate atomic structures.
  • Screened structures based on three defect attributes: Ca:Si ratio and medium-range order parameters.
  • Analyzed correlations between structural attributes and mechanical properties.

Main Results:

  • Structural and mechanical properties strongly correlate with the calcium-to-silicon ratio.
  • Cross-correlation of defect attributes revealed an extremum in the indentation modulus-to-hardness ratio.
  • This extremum is analogous to optimal network connectivity in glass rheology.

Conclusions:

  • A novel combinatorial method can optimize cement hydrate properties.
  • Findings suggest a new pathway for enhancing nanoscale mechanical properties of concrete.
  • This research contributes to developing more sustainable and high-performance concrete.