The location of water in air-entrained cement mortar after different moisture preconditioning and during freezing
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Lunds universitet - Avdelningen för Byggnadsmaterial |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 456 000 |
| Project duration | August 2019 - January 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Research infrastructure - utilisation and collaboration |
| Call | Industrial pilot projects for utilisation of neutron- and photon based techniques at large scale infrastructures - spring 2019 |
| End-of-project report | 2019-02556_Cementa.pdf (pdf, 347 kB) |
Important results from the project
In Cementa AB and Sika ABs product development, it is important to see that the products are durable in different climates. The companies want to use every available opportunity to study their materials in different applications. Therefore it is important to see what kind of information that is possible to get from a facility like ILL-beamline D50 that can combine X-rays and neutrons to study water in an airentrained cement mortar at room temperature but also during freezing.
Expected long term effects
The results of images from neutron and X-ray showed that it is possible to study the moisture content in the larger pores of cement mortar. It was also possible to study the moisture content in a sample that was alternately frozen and thawed. A positive discovery was that by using the gray scale it was possible to study how the moisture content in the smaller pores is changed. This opens new opportunities to study how air voids protect cementitious materials against the effects of frost. This increases the knowledge of how cement and airentraining admixtures interact.
Approach and implementation
The goal for the industrypartners, was to gather experts who were knowledgeable about the measurement technology used in the beam line, Solid mechanics LU, durability of concrete, Building material LU. Experts added through their network contributed to the issues we address in the project, Kindai University, Japan, NTNU, Norway. The main analysis work is performed by Lund University. The analyzes that are completed show interesting results and are something we can include in productdevelopment.