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Microstructural features of a mortar as seen by computed microtomography

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Abstract

While low resolution limits the use of computed microtomography for microstructural investigation, the method has a unique advantage in that no specimen preparation is required; the images produced are thus entirely free of specimen preparation artifacts. In the present communication we report examination of the microstructure of a w:c 0.6 mortar, with the tomographic information resolved on a set of more than 500 successive planar images each 1.2 μm apart. Selected images are compared with backscatter SEM images taken from similar materials at comparable magnifications. The same features are observed, including sand grains, air voids, residual cement grains, hydrated cement paste components, and hollow-shell pores. The “patchy” microstructure of different areas of hardened cement paste, previously reported for mortars and concretes in backscatter SEM, is clearly also present in images derived from computed microtomography, and are not artifacts of SEM specimen preparation.

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Acknowledgments

The assistance of Dr. Denis Keane in obtaining and resolving the CT microtomography data are acknowledged with thanks. Parts of this research were conducted at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the US Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences and Division of Chemical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Sidney Diamond

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME, 04469-5711, USA

    Eric Landis

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  1. Sidney Diamond
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  2. Eric Landis
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Correspondence to Sidney Diamond.

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Diamond, S., Landis, E. Microstructural features of a mortar as seen by computed microtomography. Mater Struct 40, 989–993 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-006-9194-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-006-9194-9

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