preliminary research of the use of nmr for mortar · the applicability of nuclear magnetic...

31
Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar Citation for published version (APA): Visser, J. H. M., & Pel, L. (2000). Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar. Eindhoven: Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2000 Document Version: Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 03. Apr. 2020

Upload: others

Post on 25-Mar-2020

1 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar

Citation for published version (APA):Visser, J. H. M., & Pel, L. (2000). Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar. Eindhoven: TechnischeUniversiteit Eindhoven.

Document status and date:Published: 01/01/2000

Document Version:Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers)

Please check the document version of this publication:

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can beimportant differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. Peopleinterested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit theDOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and pagenumbers.Link to publication

General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.

• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.

If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, pleasefollow below link for the End User Agreement:www.tue.nl/taverne

Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:[email protected] details and we will investigate your claim.

Download date: 03. Apr. 2020

Page 2: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Preliminary research

on the use of NMR for mortar

••

Eindhoven, June 2000

NF /FIK 2000-13

Dr.ir. L.Pel

Dr. J.H.M.Visser

TNO Building and Construction Research

t~V

Page 3: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Summary

The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been

shown that with NMR the moisture profile can be determined non destructively. Using NMR

both the absorption and drying of mortar samples can be studied. It is shown that in addition

to the moisture content additional information can be obtained from the relaxation of the

NMR signa!. This relaxation can be used to determine the distribution of both Na and

moisture in the pore structure of mortar. Finally it has been shown NMR can be used for

cryoporometry since no signa! is obtained from ice.

Page 4: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

0. INTRODUCTION

1. NMR TECHNIQUE

1.1 Nuclear magnetic resonance technique

1.2 Experimental set up

2. PROFILE MEASUREMENT

2.1 Water absorption

2.2 Drying

3. NMR and MICROSTRUCTURE

4. Na PROFILE MEASUREMENT

5. CRYOPOROMETRY

6. REFERENCES

1

3

3

4

5

5

5

6

7

8

10

Page 5: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

0. INTRODUCTION

The durability of concrete is known to depend on its pore structure. Degradation mechanisms

such as for instanee carbonation- or chloride-initiated corrosion depend among other on the

water content, permeability and diffusion rate of chloride-ions or C02• The water content of

concrete will he (or will become) in equilibrium with the relative humidity of the

environment. Because condensation or vaporisation is dependent on the pore size, so is the

water content. Also most of the transport processes in the concrete depend on the pore

structure. Large, interconnected pores will easily allow transport of fluids, while transport will

he much slower in small interconnected pores and impossible when only isolated pores are

present.

In a literature survey of degradation mechanisms due to frost and thawing in combination with

de-icing salts [I] it was found that the po re structure of concrete is also of importance in

degradation due to frost or thawing. In addition to the above mentioned relation between

water content and pore size, also the freezing temperature of pore water is related to the pore

size. At freezing, the water in the largest pores will freeze first. Since ice has a higher specific

volume than water, a pressure is build up in the concrete. When the freezing rate is high in

relation to the permeability, the not yet frozen pore water cannot escape leading possibly to

damage if the pressures are high enough. No damage will however arise when no or low po re

pressures are build up as a result of the phase transformation. This may he the case if the

pores are not completely saturated with water or when the yet unfrozen pore water has ample

time to move. In addition, when the water in the large pores is frozen, water from the smaller

pores may he transported to the large, already frozen pores, due to mechanisms such as

vapour transport or osmoses in case dissolved salts are present.

In frost- and thawing, damage will thus also he strongly correlated to the po re structure of the

concrete, but exactly how remains unclear. In the literature many possible mechanisms have

been proposed but evidence on their occurrence is lacking. It is felt that this is partly because

detailed knowledge of the structure of concrete is lacking so that discrimination of damage

mechanisms on the basis of the material properties can not he made. Knowledge of the pore

structure itself (porosity, pore size distribution and permeability), the water content and the

I

Page 6: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

water distribution, the distribution of dissolved salts in the pore water as well as freezing and

thawing temperature of the pore water will be a great help in understanding the degradation

mechanisms at freezing and thawing.

To determine the pore structure of concrete, its related pore water distribution, dissolved salt

distribution as well as freezing and thawing temperatures, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

(NMR) may be an excellent technique. In order to investigate the applicability of the NMR­

technique to concrete under freezing and thawing, a preliminary investigation was set-up at

the Technica! University of Eindhoven, in co-operation with TNO Building and Construction

Research. The preliminary investigation was set-up to determine the following characteristics

of the concrete:

-porosity and pore size distribution

-water distribution

-Cl and Na distribution

-freezing and thawing temperatures

In this report, the results of the preliminary experiments will be reported.

The experiments of the preliminary research has been performed on mortar specimens with

an age of more than eight years. A mortar was chosen to have a homogeneous specimen

(diameter 20 mm x length 50 mm). A high age was mandatory to maintain a constant pore

structure during the testing. All specimens were made with portlandcement, with a cement­

sand ratio of I : 3 and a water cement factor of 0.5. Two different portlandcement mortars

have been used in the preliminary research, namely a regular portlandcement mortar (TN0-2)

and a polymer modified portlandcement mortar (TNO-I).

Experiments will be discussed on mortars of TNO, (TNO-I and TN0-2), and a mortar used

in the Ph.D. research of K. Hazrati [2] (HAZ, water to cement ratio 0.40).

2

Page 7: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

1. NMR TECHNIQUE

1.1 Nuclear magnetic resonance technique

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) makes use of the fact that most nuclei passes a spin and

therefore a magnetic moment. NMR is a magnetic resonance technique, where the resonance

condition for the nuclei is given hy [3, 4]:

(1)

In this equation y is the so-called gyromagnetic ratio and Bo is the extemally applied static

magnetic field. The gyromagnetic ratio is dependent on the type of nucleus (see tahle 1).

Since NMR is a resonance technique it can he made sensihle to hydragen and therefore to

water. Indeed also other liquids containing hydragen can he measured, like petrol or oil.

nucleus y (MHzff) G (-)

lH 42.6 1.0

7Li 16.5 0.29

19p 40.0 0.83

23Na 11.3 0.093

35Cl 4.2 0.0047

Tahle 1: The values of NMR parameters for various nuclei

Often a so-called spin-echo technique is used with NMR. Assuming a single exponential

decay, the magnitude of a NMR spin-echo signal is given hy (T1>>T2):

(2)

where Gis the relative sensitivity ofthe nuclei in comparison to hydragen (see tahle 1), p the

density, T1 the so-called spin-lattice (longitudinal) relaxation time, TR the repetition time of

3

Page 8: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

the spin-echo experiment, T2 the so-called spin-spin (transverse) relaxation time, and TE the

spin-echo time. As can be seen from Eq. 2, small T2 values lead to a decrease of the spin­

echo signal whereas, on the other hand, small T1 values are preferred, as this parameter limits

the repetition time (usually TR==4T1 ).

For most solids containing hydrogen, like e.g. plastics, the T2 is extremely short(< 10 flS) in

comparison to TE (factor 1 0) and hence these materials can not he imaged. For most building

materials due to their iron content T 2 is also small (in the order of 400 flS) in comparison to

TE and hence no standard equipment can he used (i.e., a medical scanner which have a TE

in general of >5 ms). Therefore specialized scanners were developed at Eindhoven University

which can image materials with a short T2 •

1.2 Experimental set up

For the experiments described in this report, a NMR apparatus built at the TU-Eindhoven was

used which operates at a frequency of 34 MHz (B0 = 0.8 T). This instrument was especially

designed for quantitative measurements of moisture in porous materials with short transverse

relaxation (T2) times [5, 6].

An example of a NMR probe head for the water absorption experiments is presented in figure

1. A coil, which forms part of a tuned LC circuit, is placed around the sample for creating

and receiving the radio frequency fields during the NMR experiments. A specially designed

Faraday shield is placed between the coil and the sample to suppress the effects of changes

of the dielectric permittivity by variations of the moisture content, thereby making the NMR

experiments quantitative (unlike standard Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which is

generally used in a qualitative way).

A well defined magnetic field gradient is applied and hence the resonance frequency will he

a function of the position. Therefore at a certain frequency one can only image one position

and the NMR signal will he proportional to the total amount of hydrogen atoms at that

position. An entire profile is measured by moving the sample with the help of a step motor.

In general the one-dimensional resolution is in the order of 1.0 mm. Typically it takes 30

seconds to measure the moisture content at one position. During the measurements a time

stamp is added to each measurement point.

4

Page 9: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

2. PROFILE MEASUREMENT

2.1 Water absorption

In figure 2 the measured moisture profiles are given during water ahsorption for a mortar. As

can he seen a sharp wetting front is ohserved. These moisture profiles were measured during

ahsorption for hoth oven dried and propanol dried mortar (HAZ) samples.

During ahsorption the moisture profiles can he scaled hy .ft , which is also known as the

Boltzmann transformation: À= x f 112 (see, e.g., (6, 7]). The ohserved moisture profiles for one

type of mortar after the Boltzmann transformation are plotted in figure 3. In hoth cases this

transformation yields a distinct curve on which the data from the various profiles for a sample

coincide. For hoth materials a sharp wetting front is ohserved. The intersection of these curves

with the x-axis gives the position of wetting front as a function of time which is the

waterpenetration coefficient B. As can heseen the water peneteation factor for the oven dried

sample is ahout a factor 4 higher than for the propanol dried sample. The area under these

curves gives the total mass of water which is ahsorhed as function of time which is the

waterahsorption coefficient A.

2.2 Drying

In figure 4 the resulting moisture profiles are given for a drying experiment of mortar sample

TN0-2. The drying experiment was performed for a period of 48 hours. Inspeetion of the

profiles show variations, which are suhstantially larger than the experimental noise, and

reproduce from profile to profile, e.g., at a position of 5 mm. These variations reileet the

inhomogeneities of the sample. As can he seen during the first 7 hours the drying is

proceeding faster which is prohahly due to water transport in liquid form. As soon as the

drying front enters the materials the transport has to go in vapour form which slows down the

drying process. For this mortar no clear drying front is ohserved. As can he seen a residual

moisture content is ohserved as the drying front enters the material. This is due to water still

present in the gel pores.

5

Page 10: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

3. NMR and MICROSTRUCTURE

The relaxation of the NMR signal can provide additional information on the water distri bution

in the microstructure. During an NMR experiment the water molecules will move randomly

due to Brownian motion (see also figure 5). In buJ.k waterthereare no relaxation eentres and

hence the relaxation will he long. Ho wever if the water molecules are confined to a restricted

volume, the molecules will collide with the wall. During these collisions there will he fast a

relaxation of the hydrogen atoms and hence these will no longer take part in the NMR

experiment. Hence as the pores become smaller the decay of nuclei taking part in a NMR

experiment will go faster. Therefore the NMR signal will he dependent on the pore size.

In case of a material built up of interconnected spherical pores, the relaxation of the water in

one pore is given by a single exponential decay with a relaxation time T2 [8, 9]:

T2a a T =--

2 l 3 (3)

Here T2, is the surface relaxation time, À the thickness of the surface layer, which will he

taken equal to 3 A [9, 1 0] and V the volume of water in the pore with total surface area S

where a is the pore radius. For other pore geometries, the proportionality constant a/3 may

he slightly different (e.g., a/2 for cylinders). From measurements the surface relaxation time

for mortars T2, = 85 ± 15 f..lS [10, 11] was found, hence:

(4)

(In this report sometimes the pore size will he given in f..lS since this is directly related to the

measurement. However using eq. 4. one can directly convert this to a pore size)

In tigure 6 the NMR signal is given as a function of time for a mortar (TNO-I). As can he

seen a clear two-exponential decay is found, which can he understood from the structure of

mortar. The gel pores which are of the order of 5-100 A will give a fast relaxation which is

the first steep decay. The capillary por es have dimensions of the order of 0. 01-1 0 f..lffi will

give a slower relaxation which is the second slower decay. The pronounced bimodal pore

distribution of mortar is reflected in the relaxation as a two exponential decay.

Using the relaxation curve one can calculate the pore water distribution using the Laplace

transformation. This has been performed using a the program CONTIN. The resulting

6

Page 11: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

distributions for two types of mortar are given in tigure 7. As can be seen both types of

mortar have a bimodal pore distribution. In both cases it is found that the gel pores are in the

order of 2 1 0"3 J.lm (20 Á).

In tigure 8 a comparison is made for mortar (HAZ) between the pore distribution determined

by NMR, mercury intrusion and water vapour sorption (BET). As can be seen the results

correlate well. Por BET more small pores are measured which can be contributed to the fact

that also the surface layer will be measured of the larger pores. Of these methods NMR has

the advantage that it is really measuring the water present within the pore structure. In

addition both the gel and capillary pores can be measured simultaneously and in a non

destructive way.

In addition one can determine the pore water distribution as a function of the height by

measuring the relaxation at each position. In tigure 9 an example is given. Here the pore

water distribution was determined each mm for the tirst 18 mm of a mortar sample. One can

clearly see the pore water distribution changing near the top of the sample.

Since the NMR method is non destructive one can also determine the pore water distribution

as a function of time. In tigure 10 an example is given of the development of the pore

structure of a fresh mortar as function of time over the tirst 60 days [11]. One can clearly see

the development of the pores, i.e., the growing of the gel pores and the decrease in size of

the capillary pores.

4. Na PROFILE MEASUREMENT

Besides with hydrogen nuclei, NMR can also be done with other types of nuclei . In general

other atoms have a lower sensitivity which in general will result in a longer measurement time

(see table 1). At present only the Na nuclei can be measured in addition to hydrogen.

Analog to the pore water distribution using the relaxation of the Na one can also determine

the pore Na-ion distribution within the pore structure using the measured relaxation ofthe Na­

ions. In tigure 11 an example is given of the measured relaxation and the calculated

distribution fora mortar sample saturated with a 4 M NaCl solution. One can see that the Na­

ions are present in both the capillary and the gel pores.

In a second experiment the diffusion of Na into a water saturated sample (TN0-2) was

7

Page 12: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

measured. The sample was brought into contact with a 4 M NaCl solution during 2 months

allowing the Na-ions to enter by means of diffusion. In figure 12 the results are given of the

measured moisture and Na-ion profile after 2 months. As can beseen both the moisture and

Na-ions are in first order homogeneously distributed over the sample. On the sample also

chemica} analysis was done and the Cl profile was determined. This data is also plotted in

figure 12. For comparison the Na and Cl profiles are given in arbitrary units. As can beseen

a good correlation is found between these profiles. At present only measurements can be

performed on the Na. The sensitive of NMR for Cl is about a factor 20 less then Na, and

hence Cl can not be measured with the present low field NMR. However a NMR instrument

has been built which uses a 4. 7 T superconducting magnet with which it will be possible to

measure the chloride concentration (SIN for NMR is proportional to the field squared). In

addition this instrument will have the possibility of measuring simultaneously both the Na and

Cl concentration

5. CRYOPOROMETRY

Additional information about the pore size distribution can be obtained from cryoporometry.

This technique is based on the fact that the melting temperature of the fluid in the pore

increases with decreasing po re size. This can be seen from the Gibbs-Thomson relation:

k àT=T(a) -T(oo) =-a

(5)

In this equation T(oo) is the bulk melting temperature, T(a) the melting temperature of water

in a pore with pore size (a) and (k) a constant which is dependent on the liquid used. For

water (k) is in the order of 6.2 1 o-s Km.

Since the transverse relaxation time of the frozen fraction of the pore fluid is usually very

short (6 JlS), only the liquid fraction will be observed in NMR experiments with echo times

larger than 1 00 JlS. This makes NMR an i deal tool for cryoporometry but also for

investigating the freezing and thawing phenomena.

The experimental set-up for the cryoporometry measurements is schematically depicted in

figure 13. The sample is placed in a teflon sample holder, which is inserted in a double

8

Page 13: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

walled glass cryostat. The sample is cooled using a controlled flow of cooled (77 K) nitrogen

gas. For the cryoporometry measurement to avoid supercooling of the water in the pores, the

measurements were performed at increasing temperatures. The actual sample temperature is

determined from the resistance of two miniature Pt1 00 thermometers, located just above and

just below the sample. Generally, the temperature difference over the sample is below 2 K,

allowing the actual sample temperature to be determined with an accuracy better than 1 K

As a test measurements were performed on a series of Polygosil samples with well-defined

pore size distributions. The measured temperature dependenee of the NMR signal intensity

of these samples is plotted in figure 14. For each sample two melting trajectories were

observed: one at 0 oe, corresponding to melting of the bulk fluid between the powder grains,

and one at lower temperatures, associated with melting of the fluid in the pores. It is obvious

that the freezing point of the pore fluid monotonically decreases with pore size.

Measurements were also performed on an oven dried (1 05 °C) mortar sample (HAZ). The

sample was first cooled down to -120 oe, and then warmed up at an initial rate of about 4

K per hour, gradually decreasing to about 1 K per hour at 0 oe. The spin-echo intensity in

the temperature region between -90 oe and +0 oe is plotted in figure 15. The spin-echo

intensity shows a gradual increase with temperature, indicating a very broad pore size

distribution. A distinct additional feature shows up at -45 oe, which we associate with the

melting process ofthe water in the gel pores in the mortar. Using the Gibbs-Thomson relation

the diameter of these pores is of the order of 1 nm (1 0 Ä). The very broad distribution of the

remaining pores is somewhat surprising, since in general the pore-size distribution in mortar

is believed to be bimodal in character as also indicated by the relaxation measurements.

Further studies on a series of different mortars will be performed to clarify this point.

The temperature dependenee of the transverse relaxation process of this sample has also been

measured between -90 oe and + 10 oe. In figure 16 the po re water distri bution is plotted for

three temperatures. At low temperature only a water in very small gel pores can be seen, i.e.,

a very short relaxation can be seen. In the temperature region between -5 oe and 0 oe the

relaxation time distribution starts to develop more structure. At -3 oe the gel pores

transforms into a broadened peak. Next, at about -2 oe, a second peak in the distribution

develops which is attributed to the capillary pores. This indicates that at -2 oe the water

smaller capillary pores starts to melt, which was not separately visible in the cryoporometry

measurements. Apart from these two peaks, a relatively small peak appears at 8 ms, which

9

Page 14: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

probably reflects the melting of the water in the larger pores. This peak is better visible in the

inset of tigure 16.

6. CONCLUSIONS

-With NMR one can determine the moisture and sodium content non destructively

-With NMR one can determine the various transport processes, i.e., absorption and drying,

in mortar.

-The relaxation of the NMR signal can provide information on the po re water/sodium

distribution within the pare system.

-Since with NMR no ice signal is measured it can be used for cryoporometry

7. REFERENCES

[1] Visser, J.H.M., Heijnen, W.M.M. and Polder, R.B., Frost-thawing resistance of

concrete: literature survey to the mechanisms (in Dutch), TNO Building and

Construction Research report 2000-BT-:MK-R0128 (2000).

[2] K. Hazrati, Étude des mécanismes de transport de /'eau absorption capillaire dans

des matériaux cimentaires usuels et de haute performance, Ph. D. thesis, Université

Laval, Québec, Canada (1998).

[3] Hahn E L, Spin Echo, Phys. Rev. 80, 580 (1950).

[4] Dixon R.L. and Ekstrand K.E. , The physics ofproton NMR,Med. Phys. 9, 807-818

(1982).

[5] Kopinga K. and Pel L., 'One-dimensional scanning of moisture in porous materials

with NMR', Rev. Sci. Instrum., 65, 3673-3681(1994).

10

Page 15: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

[6] Pel L., Moisture transport in porous building materials, Ph.D. thesis, Eindhoven

University of Technology, the Netherlands, (1995).

[7] Pel L., Kopinga K., Bertram G. and Lang G., Water absorption in fired-clay brick

observed by NMR scanning, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 28, 675-680 (1995).

[8] K.R. Brownstein and C.E. Tarr, lmportance of classical diffusion in NMR studies

of water in biologica! cells, Phys. Rev. 19, 2446-2453 (1979).

[9] Halperin, W.P.; D'Orazio, F.; Bhattacharja, S.; Tarczon, J.C., Magnetic Resonance

relaxation analysis of porous media. In: Klafter, J.; Drake, J.M. (Eds). Molecular

Dynamic in Restricted Geometries, John Wiley and Sons, New York; 311-350

(1989).

[10] Jehng, J.Y., Microstructure of wet cement pastes: a nuclear magnetic resonance

study, Ph.D. thesis, Northwestem University, USA (1995).

11

Page 16: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 1:

stepmotor

teflon holder

water

I I

~ I I

I I I I

RF coil ~B I I

I I

I

~ I I

? Faraday shield

An experimental NMR probe for measuring the moisture profiles during water

absorption. The sample is moved with the help of a step motor.

12

Page 17: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

0.20

g I ~

x -C? 0.1 5 E

(<) x=O E -..... c Q) ...... c 0.10 0 (.)

Q) .._ :::::1 ...... Cl) ·-0 E o.o5

position (mm)

Figure 2: The measured moisture profiles for mortar during water absorption

13

Page 18: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 3:

0.20 ,....----------------------.

-'? 0.1 5 E

C')

E -.... c (].) .... c 0.10 0 (..')

(].) .... :::s .... CIJ ·-0 E o.o5

oven

propanol

0.00 ....___......__....;;_ 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30

xt-1'2 (mm s·1

'2

)

0.40

Boltzmann transform of the measured moisture profiles for the two types of

mortar (HAZ): oven dried (A) and propanol dried ( 0). (-) Boltzmann transform

of the moisture profiles that were numerically simulated based on the moisture

diffusivity approximated by two exponential functions.

14

Page 19: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 4:

1.00.------------------,------------r-~

0.80

-c 0.60 Q) ...... c:: 0 0 Q) "- 0.40 ::J ...... en 0 E

0.20

10% RV~

-12.5 . .

.

-12 5

1

0. 0 0 L...-......:...---'--------L-----'------J...----..1....------'-------J

-14.0 -10.0 -6.0 -2.0 2.0 6.0 10.0 14.0

position (mm)

Moisture profiles measured during drying of mortar TN0-2. The time between

subsequent profiles is 1 hour and the profiles are given for a period of 48

hours. The dasbed line indicates the residual moisture content observed at 10

% relative humidity in this drying experiment. In the inset the experimental

setup is given.

15

Page 20: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 5:

/ /

y

Schematic representation of the Brownian motion of a water molecule during

a NMR experiment for bulk water and water in confined to a small and large

po re.

16

Page 21: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 6:

10000 gel pores

capillary pores

1000

500~--------------~--------------~

0 10 20 (Thousands)

spin-echo time (lJS)

The NMR signal as a function of the spin-echo time. In the inset a schematic

representation is given of the pore structure of mortar.

17

Page 22: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

1200

TN0-1 I \

1000 ,, .... \ ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, - 800 ,,

~ . ,, I

:::l ,,

I . ~ I ctS ~ I • - • I

600 t I I ctS t I

c: t I Cl I

I (/) 400 I

I ,, ~ ~ ,,

200 ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

\'

0 0.001 0.01 0.1

Figure 7:

pore size (~m)

The pore water distribution of two types of mortar (TNO-I and TN0-2) as

determined from the relaxation measurements

18

Page 23: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

c ctl

0,25 t: 0 E a ~ 0,2 "0 0')

~ 0,15 ~

E ...........

0, 1 Q)

E ::::l 0 0,05 > Q) ...... 0 0. 0

.~ -c 0,001 Q) ......

~ 0

Figure 8:

8 7 b 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0,01 0,1 0,0001 O,OOl 0, Ol Pore radius (~m) Pareradius (~m)

The pore distribution as determined by NMR (solid curve), mercury intrusion

(~) (a) and water vapour sorption (BET) (D) (b).

19

Page 24: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

-E E

...........

s:: 0

ot-I

en 0 c.

Figure 9:

20

15

10

5

oL---~~=I~~=c~~====~========~~w 0.001 0.01 0.1

pare size (J.Jm)

The pore water distribution as determined by NMR as measured over 18 mm:

each line represents the pore water distribution (given in arbitrary units) at

certain position.

20

Page 25: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

0 ""'-Jo..,4.,-d-,-~.·-----~,J,.,Y,_>~·•~mm•>,.l.»»~-....... __,a--'-_..j~~;:;.,_~~

U 100 400 400· Si» ttXX• Pont Si:u: ( ÀJ

Figure 10: The po re distri bution as determined by NMR during the hydration of a mortar

for the first 60 days [11].

21

Page 26: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 11 :

10000

I • wet concrete sodlum signa I -::J

~ 1000 A >- • ....... . ëii

' c: Q) • ....... • c: \ 100 0 • • -5 Q) \.,

":. c: ·a. ·::.-.. . (j) 10 .. . . .. 0 ~ .... ' .. . ... .: - . ", . ~ . . . . .".. .. ~ ~ .,. . ~ -·· .. " . • • , ,. : • •• -:- .w •'l • ·- ••• 0.. . . .... ,._ -·-.'·.-. ... , .. u • • • • - • • •

0 20 40 60 80 100

Time (ms)

300

I sodium I 250

200 B

-::J

ro 150 -Q)

u ::J

:!::::! 100 a.. E <

50

0

0 .1 10 100

T2

values (ms)

(A) The measured spin-echo intensity for Na as function TE for mortar sample

saturated with a 4 M NaCl solution. (B) The Na distribution in the pores as

calculated from the relax:ation (fig A).

22

Page 27: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

-::J

ca -....... -c (/)

Q) "'0 ....... c: c:: tU

0 (/) ::J

(.) 0 ..c

Q) ._ ~ -::J -UJ ·-0 E

Figure 12:

+ moisture Na 0 Cl

20~----------------------------------~2500 ++ +

+ + ++ ++ +

+ + ++ + + +++ + ++++++ +++ +++++ ++ + ++ + + +

16 ,_

12 -

+ 8 -

0 6~ 0 6

4 "1A+

- 2000

+

- 1500

- 1000

500

0 ...._ __ ___,1._ __ ___.1 ___ ____.1 ___ ___,_1 ___ __, 0

-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0

position (mm)

-....... c (I)

....... c:: 0 (.)

ca z

ü

The moisture and Na distribution as determined by NMR with a spatial

resolution of 2 mm. The Cl distribution as determined by chemica! analysis

with a spatial resolution of 10 mm

23

Page 28: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

Figure 13:

Liquid Hitrogen vessel

Conneetion to resistanct wire

Dewar-vessel

Teflon ring

F araday shield

Coil

lnsulation material

Conneetion to Pt-100

Schematic diagram of the NMR cryoporometry set-up. The sample is cooled

using a controlled flow of cooled nitrogen gas.

24

Page 29: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

35000

,........ 30000 60A

ë/5

!0 ..... c

I 0

-5 Q)

I c ·a (I)

c ..c ro

I

Figure 14:

25000

100 A 20000

15000

10000

5000

·25 ·20 -15

Temperature (°C)

Temperature dependenee of the spin-echo intensity for vanous Polygosil

samples with different pore sizes.

25

Page 30: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

25000

::::::J <U 20000 _.

.~ (!)

c 2 15000 c 0 ..c V

~ 10000 c ·a. (!)

c ~ 5000 I

-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0

Figure 15: Temperature dependenee of the spin-echo intensity for an oven-dried mortar

sample (HAZ).

26

Page 31: Preliminary research of the use of NMR for mortar · The applicability of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for mortar was studied. It has been shown that with NMR the moisture profile

20000

18000

16000

14000

';' 12000

~ >.. 10000

...... 'ü'i c: 8000 Q) ...... c:

6000

4000

2000

0

Figure 16:

10000

1'\ r ~ ... .,'\ 1000 •

f \ 100

" 1 0 100 1000 10000

• T=-33 oe ............. T= -3 oe .. T= -2 oe

100 1000 10000

Relaxation Time [IJS]

The pore water distribution as determined form the relaxation as a function of

the temperature for an oven dried mortar (HAZ). In the inset the pore water

distribution is given for -2 °C.

27