Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T04:18:50.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Using Quasielastic Neutron Scattering Techniques To Quantify Freezable Water In Portland Cement Paste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

D.L. Gress
Affiliation:
University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA
T. El-Korchi
Affiliation:
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
R.A. Livingston
Affiliation:
Federal Highway Administration, McLean Virginia, USA
D.A. Neumann
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
J.J. Rush
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Get access

Abstract

Quasi-elastic neutron scattering provides detailed information of the atomic and molecular interactions responsible for a material's properties and is a direct and nondestructive method of measuring the motion of hydrogen. This technique was utilized to evaluate the state of water in a cementitious material. The relative amount of freezable water that existed in a saturated type I portland cement paste with water/cement ratios of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 was determined over a temperature ranging from +3 C to - 40 C. The amount of frozen water relative to the total water content was related to the water filled pore size predicted to be freezable at each temperature. The proportion of immobilized water increased for all water cement ratios gradually with decreasing temperatures below 0 C until most of the water was immobile at -40 C. The relative proportion of immobile water at 3 C was found to be inversely related to the water/cement ratio, which suggested a smaller fraction of large pores for small water/cement ratios. The findings also suggested the immobilization water was independent of water/cement ratio for pores smaller than 15nm.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 Rebuilding the Foundations, A Special Report on State and Local Public Works Financing and Management, Office of Technology Assessment, Washington, DC, (1990).Google Scholar
2 America's Highways: Accelerating the Search for Innovation, Special Report 202, Trans portation Research Board, Washington, DC, (1984).Google Scholar
3 Robinson, G. Bulletin of the American Ceramics Society, vol. 63 ,(1984)Google Scholar
4 Ravaglioli, A. and Vecchi, G., Assessment of the frost resistance of ceramic bodies by means of porosity meter tests, in: Pore Structure and Properties of Materials. Part IV, eds. Modry, S. and Svata, M., Academia Press, Prague, (1974).Google Scholar
5 ASTM Committee D-14, Standard Test Method for Determination of Pore Volume and Volume Distribution of Soil and Rock by Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry, D 4404-84, ASTM Philadelphia, PA, (1984)Google Scholar
6 Bee, M., Quasielastic Neutron Scattering: Principles and Applications in Solid State Chemistry, Biology and Materials Science, Adam Hilger, Bristol, England and Philadelphia, PA, USA, (1988).Google Scholar
7 Copley, J. and Udovic, T. Neutron Time-of-Flight Spectroscopy, Journal of Research of the NIST, Technol. 98, 71 (1993).,Google Scholar
8 Harris, D., Windsor, C. and Lawrence, C., Free and Bound Water in Cement Pastes, Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 26(85), (1974)Google Scholar
9 Lerch, W. Basic Principles of Air Entrained Concrete, T-101 Portland Cement Association, (1960).Google Scholar
10 Fagerlund, G. Determination of Pore-Size Distribution from Freezing-Point Depression Materials and Structures, Vol. 6, No. 33, (1973).Google Scholar