The Study of Cement Hydration by in-situ Synchrotron X-rays Diffraction

Abstract

X-ray Diffraction (XRD) technique was normally used to determine the
cement hydration products such as Ettringite (Aft), Monosulfate (AFm) and
Portlandite (Ca(OH)2 ) . The hydrated sample has to be prepared in dry
powder and the cement hydration reaction has to be stopped at specific time.
It was not practical to study the hydration at very early age . To overcome
this limitation, , the in situ Wide Angle X-ray Scattering technique (WAXS)
was used to investigate cement hydration. Because of the high intensity of
synchrotron x-rays, the measurement time was shortened reduced. This
enables the study of cement hydration at very early age by the WAXS
technique which gave valuable information for the understanding of cement
properties such as workability and early compressive strength.