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Carbonation study and determination of cement to sand ratio in hardened cement mortar by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Singh Siddharth,
Dalbehera Mickey Mecon,
Rawat Anujay,
Sharma Pratibha
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.6797
Subject(s) - carbonation , mortar , cement , portland cement , materials science , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , thermogravimetric analysis , composite material , chemical engineering , engineering
The determination of cement and sand content in an aged cement mortar is a challenging problem for civil engineers. Techniques like x‐ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are well established, which can give some insight of the hydrated products. The present study is an attempt to use x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique for the evaluation of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), sand (aggregate) composition and carbonation study in hardened cement mortar. Carbonation analysis and cement to sand ratio for all mortar compositions has been determined and studied in detail in the present work. The C 1s spectra of cement mortar with ratios 1:1, 1:3 and 1:6 shows carbonate formation on the surface with 21, 40 and 32 atomic percent, respectively. An increase in SiO 2 content corresponding to sand is observed for all three mortar mix. The formation of silica gel due to carbonation has not been observed in the mortar samples. The cement to sand ratio for all three mortar mixes is found to be in 20–30 percent error limit due to the heterogeneous nature of the mortar system.