2015/06/22 by Bauchy, Mathieu, Qomi, Mohammad Javad Abdolhosseini, Ulm, Franz-Joseph +1
#Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1506.06445
The nature of Calcium--Silicate--Hydrate (C--S--H), the binding phase of cement, remains a controversial question. In particular, contrary to the former crystalline model, it was recently proposed that its nanoscale structure was actually amorphous. To elucidate this issue, we analyzed the structure of a realistic simulation of C--S--H, and compared the latter to crystalline tobermorite, a natural analogue to cement, and to an artificial ideal glass. Results clearly support that C--S--H is amorphous. However, its structure shows an intermediate degree of order, retaining some characteristics of the crystal while acquiring an overall glass-like disorder. Thanks to a detailed quantification of order and disorder, we show that its amorphous state mainly arises from its hydration.