@article {96, title = {Nano-scale mechanics of colloidal C-S-H gels}, journal = {Soft Matter}, volume = {10}, year = {2014}, month = {Jan-21-2014}, pages = {491-499}, type = {Article}, abstract = {

Gels of calcium-silicate-hydrates (C-S-H) are the glue that is largely responsible for the mechanical properties of cement. Despite their practical relevance, their nano-scale structure and mechanics are still mainly unexplored, because of the difficulties in characterizing them in a complex material like cement. We propose a colloidal model to investigate the gel mechanics emerging in the critical range of length-scales from several tens to hundreds of nanometers. We show that the size polydispersity of the hydrates and size-dependent effective interactions can explain the mechanical heterogeneities detected in nano-indentation experiments. We also show how these features control the arising of irreversible structural rearrangements under deformation, which are good candidates as nano-scale mechanisms underlying mechanical aging and slow structural relaxation in the gels.

Graphical abstract: Nano-scale mechanics of colloidal C{\textendash}S{\textendash}H gels
}, issn = {1744-683X}, doi = {10.1039/c3sm51815a}, author = {Enrico Masoero and Emanuela Del Gado and Roland Jean-Marc Pellenq and Sidney Yip and Franz-Josef Ulm} }