Statistical mechanics has provided powerful techniques to measure mechanical properties of materials at the nanoscale and paved the way for bottom-up computational materials design. The introduction of such techniques in civil engineering applications, namely construction and geotechnical materials, remains limited to the elastic and fracture properties. This paper presents an atomistic approac...

Portland cement is the one of the main ingredients in the manufacture of many building materials include concrete composites. The phase composition of hydration products is controlled by means of XRD and DTA/TG analysis. Observations of phase changes and microstructure of maturing cement pastes can also be observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques combined with chemical analy...

The chemical compositions of the aqueous phases in alkali-activated slag (AAS) paste and Portland cement (PC) were determined up to 28 d with aim obtaining a better understanding stability hydration products two binder systems. saturation levels respect PC AAS obtained by thermodynamic modelling. main findings this study were: effective index for portlandite system was always below zero sulfate...

Abstract The corrosion mechanisms and kinetics of a Mg-rich alkali aluminoborosilicate glass simulating UK high-level waste (CaZn28) were investigated upon dissolution in synthetic cement solutions. Dissolution varied as function the different pH alkali/alkaline earth content each solution. High resolution microscopy spectroscopy techniques ascertained nature interface between TEM-EDS revealed ...

abstract: The Alkali-Activated Materials (AAM) are defined as materials obtained through the reaction between precursors and activators, separated into two classes depending on products formed in reaction, those rich calcium, blast furnace slag, whose Ca/(Si+Al) ratio is higher than 1; poor which geopolymers subclass. In this review article, some bibliographical aspects were discussed regarding...

Tartaric acid (TA) changes short-term mechanical behavior and phase composition of sodium-metasilicate activated calcium-aluminate cement blend with fly ash, type F, when used as a set control additive to allow sufficient pumping time for underground well placement. The present work focuses on TA effect on self-healing properties of the blend under steam or alkali carbonate environments at 270 ...

The use of empirical force fields is now a standard approach in predicting the properties of hydrated oxides which are omnipresent in both natural and engineering applications. Transferability of force fields to analogous hydrated oxides without rigorous investigations may result in misleading property predictions. Herein, we focus on two common empirical force fields, the simple point charge C...

The P-RoC process – the phosphorus recovery straight from the aqueous phase by crystallisation of calcium phosphate – was developed in order to simultaneously remove and recover phosphorus from municipal wasteand industrial process waters by applying calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) compounds or synthesised tobermorite pellets as crystallisation seed materials. At first, the experiments were perf...