On the use of nanoindentation for cementitious materials

Recent progress in experimental and theoretical nanomechanics opens new venues in materials science for the nano-engineering of cement-based composites. In particular, as new experimental techniques such as nanoindentation provide unprecedented access to micromechanical properties of materials, it b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials and structures 2003-04, Vol.36 (3), p.191-196
Main Authors: Constantinides, G., Ulm, F. -J., Van Vliet, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Building construction
Building materials
Calcium silicate hydrate
Cement
Cements
Civil engineering
Hardness
Nanocomposites
Nanoindentation
Nanomaterials
Nanostructure
Volume fraction
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Summary:Recent progress in experimental and theoretical nanomechanics opens new venues in materials science for the nano-engineering of cement-based composites. In particular, as new experimental techniques such as nanoindentation provide unprecedented access to micromechanical properties of materials, it becomes possible to identify the mechanical effects of the elementary chemical components of cement-based materials at the scale where physical chemistry meets mechanics, including the properties of the four clinker phases, of portlandite, and of the C-S-H gel. In this paper, we review some recent results obtained by nanoindentation, which reveal that the C-S-H gel exists "mechanically" in two different forms, a lowdensity form and a high-density form, which have different mean stiffness and hardness values and different volume fractions. While the volume fractions of the two phases depend on mix proportions, the mean stiffness and hardness values do not change from one cement-based material to another; instead they are intrinsic properties of the C-S-H gel.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1359-5997
1871-6873
DOI:10.1007/BF02479557