Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Fabrication and characterization of nano colloid surfaced concrete

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

How far the concrete can be used as finishing material depends on how smooth it can be. In this work an ultra smooth concrete surface is fabricated with a method taking use of the nano granular nature of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) i.e. the main hydration product of cement. The reflection of people in the concrete “mirror” could be recognized, there is no defect except some small splashes found on the surface of this concrete when it was observed with optical microscopy, the surface of this concrete is covered with nano particles of Calcium Silicate Hydrates (C-S-H) sized around 10 nm when characterized by FSEM and AFM, the C-S-H nano granular particles incline to agglomerate into groups. The mean roughness of the concrete surface is around 1–10 nm when quantified with AFM in a scanning area of 1.0 × 1.0 μm2, its micro hardness is around 45 MPa.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Andrew JA, Thomas JJ, Jennings MH (2007) Composition and density of nano scale calcium silicate hydrate in cement. Nat Mater 35(6):311–316

    Google Scholar 

  2. Jennings MH (2008) Refinements to colloid model of C-S-H in cement: CM-II. Cem Concr Res 38(2):275–289

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Scherer GW (1999) Structure and properties of gels. Cem Concr Res 29(6):1149–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Taylor HFW (1993) Nano scale microstructure of C-S-H: current status. Adv Cem Mater 1(1):38–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Constantinides G, Ulm FJ (2007) The nanogranular nature of C-S-H. J Mech Phys Solids 55(1):64–90

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Shen WG, Xiao LQ A new method to prepare mirror like smooth concrete. Chinese Patent ZL200710052826.2

  7. Lesko SI, Lesniewska E, Nonat A, Mutin JC (2001) Investigation by atomic force microscopy of forces at the origin of cement cohesion. Ultramicroscopy 86(1):11–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Arnault JC, Knoll A, Smigiel E, Cornet A (2001) Roughness fractal approach of oxidised surfaces by AFM and diffuse X-ray re-ectometry measurements. Appl Surf Sci 171(2):189–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ulm FJ, Vandamme M, Bobko C et al (2007) Statistical indentation techniques for hydrated nanocomposite concrete, bone and shale. Georgios Constantinides. J Am Ceram Soc 90(9):2677–2692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Richardson IG (2008) The calcium silicate hydrates. Cem Concr Res 38(1):137–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Double DD, Hellawell A (1976) The hydration of Portland cement. Nature 261(10):486–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Nonat A (2004) The structure and stoichiometry of C-S-H. Cem Concr Res 34(8):1521–1528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Pellenq RJ-M, Lequeux N, van Damme H (2008) Engineering the bonding scheme in C-S-H: the iono-covalent framework. Cem Concr Res 38(2):159–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mendez-Vilas A, Bruque JM, Gonza M, Martin L (2007) Sensitivity of surface roughness parameters to changes in the density of scanning points in multi-scale AFM studies. Application to a biomaterial surface. Ultramicroscopy 107(4):617–625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Mahalia M, Christopher B, Matthieu V (2008) Surface roughness criteria for cement paste nanoindentation. Cem Concr Res 38(4):467–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We deeply thank Professor Hamlin Jennings at Northwestern University for helpful discussion. This project is financially supported by 973 Project (No: 2009CB23201) and the Open Foundation of National Key Laboratory of Green Building Materials (CBM-08-KF103).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Silicate Materials Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Weiguo Shen & Hu Chen

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Weiguo Shen, Gejin Gan, Rui Dong, Yu Tan & Liqi Xiao

Authors
  1. Weiguo Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gejin Gan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rui Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yu Tan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hu Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Liqi Xiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weiguo Shen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shen, W., Gan, G., Dong, R. et al. Fabrication and characterization of nano colloid surfaced concrete. Mater Struct 44, 1559–1564 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-011-9718-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-011-9718-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation