Nanomechanical investigation of the effects of nanoSiO2 on C-S-H gel/cement grain interfaces

Jing Xu; David J. Corr; Surendra P. Shah

doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2015.04.011

Nanomechanical investigation of the effects of nanoSiO₂ on C-S-H gel/cement grain interfaces

Jing Xu^*, David J. Corr, Surendra P. Shah

^*Corresponding author for this work

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, nanoindentation and viscoelastic modulus mapping were employed to study the influence of nanoSiO₂ on the properties of the interface between C-S-H gel and cement grains. The interface width measured by modulus mapping was around 200 nm as compared to a rough estimation of less than 5 μm by nanoindentation, due to the fact that 2 orders of magnitude increase in spatial resolution can be achieved with modulus mapping. Although the influence of nanoSiO₂ on the interface width was not significant, its impact on nanomechanical properties of the interface was marked. The data suggest an improvement of modulus and hardness of the interface by nanoSiO₂ in early age. This interface, which could be regarded as a layer surrounding cement grains, become denser by the addition of nanoSiO₂.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	7-17
Number of pages	11
Journal	Cement and Concrete Composites
Volume	61
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2015.04.011
State	Published - May 16 2015

Keywords

Cement-based materials
Interface
Modulus mapping
NanoSiO
Nanoindentation
Nanomechanical properties

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Building and Construction
Materials Science(all)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2015.04.011

Cite this

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title = "Nanomechanical investigation of the effects of nanoSiO2 on C-S-H gel/cement grain interfaces",

abstract = "In this paper, nanoindentation and viscoelastic modulus mapping were employed to study the influence of nanoSiO2 on the properties of the interface between C-S-H gel and cement grains. The interface width measured by modulus mapping was around 200 nm as compared to a rough estimation of less than 5 μm by nanoindentation, due to the fact that 2 orders of magnitude increase in spatial resolution can be achieved with modulus mapping. Although the influence of nanoSiO2 on the interface width was not significant, its impact on nanomechanical properties of the interface was marked. The data suggest an improvement of modulus and hardness of the interface by nanoSiO2 in early age. This interface, which could be regarded as a layer surrounding cement grains, become denser by the addition of nanoSiO2.",

keywords = "Cement-based materials, Interface, Modulus mapping, NanoSiO, Nanoindentation, Nanomechanical properties",

author = "Jing Xu and Corr, {David J.} and Shah, {Surendra P.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support for this study from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 51378011 ), the National “2011” Plan , and Tongji-Bayer Academy . This work made use of the EPIC and NIFTI facility (NUANCE Center-Northwestern University), which has received support from the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1121262) at the Materials Research Center, and the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (EEC-0118025/003), both programs of the National Science Foundation, the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",

year = "2015",

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doi = "10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2015.04.011",

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AU - Xu, Jing

AU - Corr, David J.

AU - Shah, Surendra P.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support for this study from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 51378011 ), the National “2011” Plan , and Tongji-Bayer Academy . This work made use of the EPIC and NIFTI facility (NUANCE Center-Northwestern University), which has received support from the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1121262) at the Materials Research Center, and the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (EEC-0118025/003), both programs of the National Science Foundation, the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University . Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/5/16

Y1 - 2015/5/16

N2 - In this paper, nanoindentation and viscoelastic modulus mapping were employed to study the influence of nanoSiO2 on the properties of the interface between C-S-H gel and cement grains. The interface width measured by modulus mapping was around 200 nm as compared to a rough estimation of less than 5 μm by nanoindentation, due to the fact that 2 orders of magnitude increase in spatial resolution can be achieved with modulus mapping. Although the influence of nanoSiO2 on the interface width was not significant, its impact on nanomechanical properties of the interface was marked. The data suggest an improvement of modulus and hardness of the interface by nanoSiO2 in early age. This interface, which could be regarded as a layer surrounding cement grains, become denser by the addition of nanoSiO2.

AB - In this paper, nanoindentation and viscoelastic modulus mapping were employed to study the influence of nanoSiO2 on the properties of the interface between C-S-H gel and cement grains. The interface width measured by modulus mapping was around 200 nm as compared to a rough estimation of less than 5 μm by nanoindentation, due to the fact that 2 orders of magnitude increase in spatial resolution can be achieved with modulus mapping. Although the influence of nanoSiO2 on the interface width was not significant, its impact on nanomechanical properties of the interface was marked. The data suggest an improvement of modulus and hardness of the interface by nanoSiO2 in early age. This interface, which could be regarded as a layer surrounding cement grains, become denser by the addition of nanoSiO2.

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KW - Nanomechanical properties

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