Hydration Chemistry of Cement Studied by Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Cement is a complex mixture of inorganic compounds which mainly composed of calcium silicates and calcium aluminates. Cement is mixed with water to form concrete. During the mixing calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium hydroxide are formed. The ratio of water/cement (w/c ratio) is important to obtain a mixture that gives optimum strength to the concrete. In this work, three different cement samples were mixed with water in four different ratios, including 0.35, 0.40, 0.45 and 0.55, respectively. The hydration process of cement was investigated by using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy over a period of 28 days. The combination frequency of OH stretching and bending of water molecules gi…