Browse all of our concrete science related research briefs below, or explore by topic via the links in the right side bar (on desktop browsers) or at the bottom of this page (on mobile browsers).
This research highlights that the difference in reactivity of alite and belite is inherent to their crystalline structure. This means, from a dissolution kinetics perspective, that a shift from an...
A new approach to quantitatively model the formation of cement hydration products, including their mechanical properties is proposed based on basic statistical mechanics. With the bottom-up...
This research highlights that the grinding technology currently in use in the cement industry has significant reserves for substantial energy efficiency improvements. The atomistic approach...
This research combines nanoindentation and multivariate statistics to characterize quantitatively the mechanical response and volume fractions of phases in hardened cement paste. The comparable...
This research highlights the critical role of guest ions on available reactive sites in alite and belite. The novel understanding of the role of impurities on reactivity opens the possibility for...
Concrete is defined by its properties in the hardened state. However, these are known to depend strongly on the chemical make-up created by the tens of chemical hydration reactions that take place...
Scratching a weaker material with a tougher one is no doubt the most elemental conceptualization of a materials test ever conceived by mankind. This research highlights the relevance of the...
This research highlights the importance of the water content within C-S-H on the properties of this nanoscale phase. As water content decreases, the stiffness and strength of the individual...
This research highlights the importance of the interaction forces between the liquid and solid components of cement hydration (clinker, CH, C-S-H, pore solution etc). The approach holds the...
This research suggests that C-S-H can safely host mercury while maintaining full chemical stability and mechanical performance, when less than 2% of calcium sites are exchanged for mercury. To...