We are pleased to announce that the next ROC&TOK webinar will take place on December 4, 2025 at 3 PM CEST/Paris Time and will be one hour long (30-minute presentation + 30-minute interaction). The registration for this webinar is free.
Speaker: Dr Guoqing Geng, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Host: Prof. Prannoy Suraneni, University of Miami, United States
Title: Mechanical Behavior of C-S-H at Nanoscale
Calcium–silicate–hydrate (C–S–H) is the principal binding phase in modern concrete. It is a poorly crystalline, gel-like material with a hierarchical porous structure spanning from the nanometer to millimeter scale. Despite decades of research, the nanoscale origins of its mechanical behavior remain elusive, particularly from an experimental standpoint. In this talk, Dr. Geng will introduce the principles of high-pressure X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, and demonstrate how these techniques can be used to probe the intrinsic mechanical properties of C–S–H. These methods enable direct measurement of the elastic modulus of the C–S–H solid and the surface cohesion between C–S–H layers, offering new insight into how nanoscale interactions within C–S–H govern the macroscopic mechanical performance of concrete.
