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Investigation of Three-Dimensional Microstructure of Tricalcium Silicate (C₃S) by Electron Microscopy

Yang, F; Liu, X; Zhao, Y; Zhang, Y; Wang, P; Robinson, I; Chen, B; (2018) Investigation of Three-Dimensional Microstructure of Tricalcium Silicate (C₃S) by Electron Microscopy. Materials , 11 (7) , Article 1110. 10.3390/ma11071110. Green open access

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Abstract

A serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM) system, composed of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an ultra-microtome installed within the SEM vacuum chamber, has been used to characterize the three-dimensional (3D) microstructure of tricalcium silicate (C₃S) grains embedded in epoxy resin. A selection of C₃S grains were segmented and rendered with 3D-image processing software, which allowed the C₃S grains to be clearly visualized and enabled statistically quantitative analysis. The results show that about 5% of the C₃S grains have volumes larger than 1 μm³ and the average volume of the grains is 25 μm³. Pores can also be clearly seen in the biggest C₃S grain, the volume of which is 3.6 × 10⁴ μm³, and the mean volume and total volume of all the pores within this grain are 4.8 μm³ and 3.0 × 10³ μm³, respectively. The reported work provides a new approach for the characterization of the 3D spatial structure of raw C₃S materials, and the resulting 3D structure of the raw C₃S is important for further systematic research on the relationships between the spatial microstructure and the hydration kinetics of C₃S and other cement minerals.

Type: Article
Title: Investigation of Three-Dimensional Microstructure of Tricalcium Silicate (C₃S) by Electron Microscopy
Location: Switzerland
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3390/ma11071110
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11071110
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Porosity, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM), three-dimensional (3D) structure, tricalcium silicate (C3S)
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > London Centre for Nanotechnology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10052799
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