Hydration of cementitious materials, present and future
This paper is a keynote presentation from the 13th International Congress on the Chemistry of Cement. It discusses the underlying principles of hydration and recent evidence for the mechanisms governing this process in both Portland cements and other cementitious materials. Given the overriding imperative to improve the sustainability of cementitious materials, routes to reducing CO2 emissions are discussed and the impact of supplementary materials on hydration considered. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mechanisms of cement hydration
Abstract The current state of knowledge of cement hydration mechanisms is reviewed, including the origin of the period of slow reaction in alite and cement, the nature of the acceleration period, the role of calcium sulfate in modifying the reaction rate of tricalcium aluminate, the interactions of silicates and aluminates, and the kinetics of the deceleration period. In addition, several remaining controversies or gaps in understanding are identified, such as the nature and influence on kinetics of an early surface hydrate, the mechanistic origin of the beginning of the acceleration period, the manner in which microscopic growth processes lead to the characteristic morphologies of hydratio…