C-S-H Pore Size Characterization Via a Combined Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)-Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Surface Relaxivity Calibration

Christoph Naber; Florian Kleiner; Franz Becker; Long Nguyen-Tuan; Christiane Rößler; Merlin A Etzold; Jürgen Neubauer

doi:10.3390/ma13071779

C-S-H Pore Size Characterization Via a Combined Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)-Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Surface Relaxivity Calibration

Materials (Basel). 2020 Apr 10;13(7):1779. doi: 10.3390/ma13071779.

Authors

Christoph Naber¹, Florian Kleiner², Franz Becker¹, Long Nguyen-Tuan², Christiane Rößler², Merlin A Etzold³, Jürgen Neubauer¹

Affiliations

¹ GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Mineralogy, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg (FAU), Schlossgarten 5a, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
² F. A. Finger-Institute for Building Materials Science, Bauhaus-University Weimar, Coudraystraße 11A, 99423 Weimar, Germany.
³ Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK.

Abstract

A new method for the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) surface relaxivity calibration in hydrated cement samples is proposed. This method relies on a combined analysis of 28-d hydrated tricalcium silicate samples by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image analysis and ¹H-time-domain (TD)-NMR relaxometry. Pore surface and volume data for interhydrate pores are obtained from high resolution SEM images on surfaces obtained by argon broad ion beam sectioning. These data are combined with T₂ relaxation times from ¹H-TD-NMR to calculate the systems surface relaxivity according to the fast exchange model of relaxation. This new method is compared to an alternative method that employs sequential drying to calibrate the systems surface relaxivity.

Keywords: calcium silicate hydrate; nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); pore size distribution; scanning electron microscopy (SEM); tricalcium silicate.

Abstract

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