Soft X‐ray Ptychographic Imaging and Morphological Quantification of Calcium Silicate Hydrates (C–S–H)

Journal Article · Wed Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of the American Ceramic Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.13808· OSTI ID:1401153

Bae, Sungchul ^[1]; Taylor, Rae ^[2]; Shapiro, David ^[3]; Denes, Peter ^[3]; Joseph, John ^[3]; Celestre, Rich ^[3]; Marchesini, Stefano ^[3]; Padmore, Howard ^[3]; Tyliszczak, Tolek ^[3]; Warwick, Tony ^[3]; Kilcoyne, David ^[3]; Levitz, Pierre ^[4]; M Monteiro, Paulo J. ^[2]; Struble, ed., L.

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1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California Berkeley California 94720, Faculty of Science and Technology Tokyo University of Science 2641 Yamasaki, Noda Chiba 278‐8510 Japan
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California Berkeley California 94720
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Road Berkeley California 94720
4. PHENIX Laboratory CNRS‐Université Pierre et Marie Curie 75252 Paris France

Morphological details of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H) stemming from the hydration process of Portland cement ( PC ) phases are crucial for understanding the PC ‐based systems but are still only partially known. Here we introduce the first soft X‐ray ptychographic imaging of tricalcium silicate (C ₃ S) hydration products. The results are compared using both scanning transmission X‐ray and electron transmission microscopy data. The evidence shows that ptychography is a powerful method to visualize the details of outer and inner product C–S–H of fully hydrated C ₃ S, which have fibrillar and an interglobular structure with average void sizes of 20 nm, respectively. The high‐resolution ptychrography image enables us to perform morphological quantification of C–S–H, and, for the first time, to possibly distinguish the contributions of inner and outer product C–S–H to the small angle scattering of cement paste. The results indicate that the outer product C–S–H is mainly responsible for the q ⁻³ regime, whereas the inner product C–S–H transitions to a q ⁻² regime. Various hypotheses are discussed to explain these regimes.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: DE‐AC02‐05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1401153
• Journal Information: Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Journal Name: Journal of the American Ceramic Society Vol. 98 Journal Issue: 12; ISSN 0002-7820
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English