Concrete sustainability begins at the most fundamental level: understanding the molecular structure of cement paste—calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H), the main product of the hydration of portland cement and the primarily responsible for strength in cement-based materials.
News
Research Briefs
- Resilience at High Temperatures (January 2014)
- Predicting C-S-H Aging (March 2013)
- C-S-H Texture From Sorption Isotherms (July 2012)
- Validating Effects of Cement Paste Composition on Mechanics (June 2012)
- Gaining Strength by Splitting Water (February 2012)
- Holding It Together – C-S-H Cohesion (December 2011)
- Why Wet C-S-H is Weak (October 2011)
- When Concrete Takes (part of) the Heat (September 2011)
- What’s in Your Concrete? (Part 1) (February 2011)
- What’s in Your Concrete? (Part 2) (April 2011)
- C-S-H: Water, Water Everywhere (December 2010)
- The Hidden Forces of Setting (November 2010)
- Locking Mercury into Concrete (October 2010)
- Fly Ash is Critical For C-A-S-H (September 2010)
Publications
- Abdolhosseini Qomi, M.J.; Bauchy, M.; & Pellenq, R. “Nanoscale Composition-Texture-Property-Relation in Calcium-Silicate-Hydrates,” W. Andreoni & S. Yip, (Eds.), Handbook of Materials Modeling (pp 1-32), Switzerland: Springer Nature AG, 2018.
- Bauchy, M.; Laubie, H.; Qomi, M. J. Abdolhosseini; et al. “Fracture toughness of calcium-silicate-hydrate from molecular dynamics simulations” Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. Volume 419, Pages 58-64, July 2015.
- Bauchy, M; Qomi, Abdolhosseini Qomi, MJ ; Ulm, FJ; Pellenq, RJM, Order and disorder in calcium-silicate-hydrate, Journal of Chemical Physics, Volume 140, Issue 21, Article Number 214503, 2014
- Bonnaud, P.A.; Ji, Q.; Van Vliet, K.J., Effects of elevated temperature on the structure and properties of calcium-silicate-hydrate gels: the role of confined water, Soft Matter, Volume 9, Issue 28, Pages 6418, 2013
- Bonnaud, PA; Ji, Q; Coasne, B; Pellenq, RJM; Van Vliet, KJ, Thermodynamics of Water Confined in Porous Calcium-Silicate-Hydrates, Langmuir, Volume 28, Issue 31, Pages 11422-11432, 2012
- Del Gado, E.; Ioannidou, K.; Masoero, E.; et al. “A soft matter in construction – Statistical physics approach to formation and mechanics of C-S-H gels in cement” European Physical Journal-Special Topics, Volume 223, Issue 11, Pages 2285-2295, October 2014
- Goyal, A., Palaia, I., Ioannidou, K., Ulm, F. J., Van Damme, H., Pellenq, R. J. M., … & Del Gado, E. (2021). The physics of cement cohesion. Science Advances, 7(32), eabg5882.
- Ioannidou, K; Pellenq, RJM; Del Gado, E, Controlling local packing and growth in calcium-silicate-hydrate gels, Soft Matter, Volume 10, Issue 8, Pages 1121-1133, 2014
- Loh, H. C., Kim, H. J., Ulm, F. J., & Masic, A. (2021). Time-Space-Resolved chemical deconvolution of cementitious colloidal systems using Raman spectroscopy. Langmuir, 37(23), 7019-7031.
- Manzano, H.; Masoero, E.; Lopez-Arbeloa, I.; Jennings, H.M., Shear deformations in calcium silicate hydrates, Soft Matter, Volume 9, Issue 30, Pages 7333-7341, 2013
- Maragh, J. M., Palkovic, S. D., Shukla, A., Büyüköztürk, O., & Masic, A. (2021). SEM-EDS and microindentation-driven large-area high-resolution chemomechanical mapping and computational homogenization of cementitious materials. Materials Today Communications, 28, 102698.
- Masoero, E; Del Gado, E; Pellenq, RJM; Yip, S; Ulm, FJ, Nano-scale mechanics of colloidal C-S-H gels, Soft Matter, Volume 10, Issue 3, Pages 491-499, 2014
- Seymour, L. M., Keenan-Jones, D., Zanzi, G. L., & Masic, A. (2021). Reactive Synthetic Pozzolans in Mortars from Ancient Water Infrastructure Serving Rome and Pompeii. Available at SSRN 3885241.
- Seymour, Linda M., et al. “Hot mixing: Mechanistic insights into the durability of ancient Roman concrete.” Science Advances 9.1 (2023): eadd1602.
- Seymour, Linda M., et al. “Reactive binder and aggregate interfacial zones in the mortar of Tomb of Caecilia Metella concrete, 1C BCE, Rome.” Journal of the American Ceramic Society 105.2 (2022): 1503-1518.
- Stefaniuk, D., Hajduczek, M., Weaver, J. C., Ulm, F. J., & Masic, A. (2023). Cementing CO2 into CSH: A step toward concrete carbon neutrality. PNAS nexus, 2(3), pgad052.
- Thomas, JJ; Allen, AJ; Jennings, HM, Density and water content of nanoscale solid C-S-H formed in alkali-activated slag (AAS) paste and implications for chemical shrinkage, Cement and Concrete Research, Volume 42, Issue 2, Pages 377-383, 2012
- Vandamme, M.; Ulm, F.J., Nanoindentation investigation of creep properties of calcium silicate hydrates, Cement and Concrete Research, Volume 52, Pages 38-52, 2013