2015 Articles

Experimental Investigation on Quantitative Nanomechanical Properties of Cement Paste

Li, Wengui; Xiao, Jianzhuang; Kawashima, Shiho; Shekhawat, Gajendra S.; Shah, Surendra P.

Nanoindentation, quantitative modulus mapping, and PeakForce quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) are applied to investigate the quantitative nanomechanics of hardened cement paste at different spatial resolutions. The elastic modulus measured by static nanoindentation is slightly higher than those measured by the other methods. The average elastic modulus and probability obtained by PeakForce QNM are typically consistent with those found by modulus mapping. Both modulus mapping and PeakForce QNM can be used to discriminate different material phases in cement paste at the nanoscale. It concludes that cement paste is a granular material, in which the sub-micron scale grains or basic nanoscale units pack together. Moreover, the high resolution PeakForce QNM can provide an efficient tool for identifying nanomechanical properties, particle sizes, and thickness of the interface between different nanoscale grains.