Application of synchrotron microtomography at SPring-8 for microstructure investigations of cementitious materials

Title: Application of synchrotron microtomography at SPring-8 for microstructure investigations of cementitious materials
Author(s): M.A.B. Promentilia, T. Suhiyama, T. Hitomi, N. Takeda
Paper category : conference
Book title: The 50-year Teaching and Research Anniversary of Prof. Sun Wei on Advances in Civil Engineering Materials
Editor(s): C. Miao, G. Ye and H. Chen
Print-ISBN: 978-2-35158-098-1
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-099-8
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2010
Pages: 223 - 232
Total Pages: 10
Nb references: 16
Language: English

Abstract: Concrete has been a ubiquitous material in many infrastructures throughout the world. The durability of this cementitious material is influenced by the microstructure of the cement paste matrix. For example, the transport of aggressive species through concrete structures is influenced by the pore interconnectivity and tortuosity in the cement paste. Thus, observations of microstructures in three dimensions (3D) become increasingly important nowadays as this allows even better understanding or modeling of such durability-related phenomena.
Synchrotron microtomography, a noninvasive and nondestructive 3D imaging technique, allows us to visualize the microstructure at a spatial resolution on the order of micrometers.
This paper describes the application of synchrotron microtomography at SPring-8, Japan to study the internal microstructure of cementitious materials at high spatial resolution with a voxel size down to 0.5 µm. 3D image processing and analysis routines such as segmentation and cluster multiple labeling technique were applied to high resolution microtomographic images of various specimens to extract and quantify features of interest in the microstructure.
For example, the pore spaces that were extracted from microtomographic images were analyzed for porosity and pore connectivity. Diffusion tortuosity associated with the 3D micro-geometry of pore structure was also evaluated by employing a random walk simulation in the percolating pore space. The pore structure resolved from microtomography and the tortuosity derived from random walk simulation were found to be strongly correlated.

Online publication: 2010-04-22
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00