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The meso-scale texture and mechanics of cement hydrates

We use a statistical physics approach and numerical simulations to gain new insight into the structure and mechanics of cement hydrates. By means of a polydisperse, interacting particle model with varying packing fraction and pore size distribution, we analyze the spatial correlations inferred from small-angle neutron scattering data, the hysteresis behavior in sorption-desorption isotherm measurements as well as the material hardness. We show that the meso-structure of calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) that extends over tens and hundreds of nanometers affects directly, and to a large extent, the macroscopic hygrothermal and mechanical behavior of cement. Our findings prove that short range cohesive forces together with structural disorder and mechanical heterogeneities are essential ingredients needed to rationalize the experimental observations. They also indicate that the far-from-equilibrium physico-chemical environment, under which the meso-scale structure of the material develops, may produce a persistent imprint of the early age hydration in the material properties.

Author(s):

Emanuela Del Gado    
Georgetown University
United States

Enrico Masoero    
Newcastle University
United Kingdom

Katerina Ioannidou    
MIT
United States

Pierre Levitz    
Universite Pierre et Marie Curie
France

Mathieu Bauchy    
UCLA
United States

Hamlin Jennings    
MIT
United States

Sidney Yip    
MIT
United States

Roland Pellenq    
MIT
United States

Framz-Josef Ulm    
MIT
United States