The crucial effect of early-stage gelation on the mechanical properties of cement hydrates
Name
The crucial effect.pdf
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923.23 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Kanduč, Matej
Li, Lunna
Frenkel, Daan
Dobnikar, Jure
Del Gado, Emanuela
Ioannidou, Aikaterini
Date Issued
July 2016
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Ioannidou, Katerina et al. “The Crucial Effect of Early-Stage Gelation on the Mechanical Properties of Cement Hydrates.” Nature Communications 7 (2016): 12106.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Gelation and densification of calcium–silicate–hydrate take place during cement hydration. Both processes are crucial for the development of cement strength, and for the long-term evolution of concrete structures. However, the physicochemical environment evolves during cement formation, making it difficult to disentangle what factors are crucial for the mechanical properties. Here we use Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations to study a coarse-grained model of cement formation, and investigate the equilibrium and arrested states. We can correlate the various structures with the time evolution of the interactions between the nano-hydrates during the preparation of cement. The novel emerging picture is that the changes of the physicochemical environment, which dictate the evolution of the effective interactions, specifically favour the early gel formation and its continuous densification. Our observations help us understand how cement attains its unique strength and may help in the rational design of the properties of cement and related materials.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
MIT Energy Initiative
MultiScale Materials Science for Energy and Environment, Joint MIT-CNRS Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12106
