Concluding Remarks on Hydration Hardening

The bridging of particles is closely related to the developnent and buildup of internal microstiesses in the forming structures. Direct x-iay diffraction studies made it possible to estimate the magnitude of these stresses and indicated that in some cases these stresses can be comparable to the strength of the structure. 

Internal stresses comprise the necessary precondition for the bridging of crystals, because they are the source of the necessary compressive forces that must be present for the bridging to take place. The internal stresses may undergo relaxation in the course of plastic deformation or can be preserved in the material in the form of residual stresses, which results in a decrease in the strength and durability of the material. 

Shchukin, E. D., Amelina, E. A., and S. I. Kontorovich. 1992. Formation of contacts between particles and development of internal stresses during hydration processes. In Materials Sciences of Concrete, J. Skalny (Ed.), pp. 1-35. Westerville, OH American Ceramic Society. 

Shchukin, E. D. (Ed.). 1992. The Successes of Colloid Chemistry and Physical-Chemical Mechanics. Moscow, Russia Nauka. 

Shchukin, E. D. 1996. Some colloid-chemical aspects of the small particles contact interactions. In Fine Particles Science and Technology, E. Pelizzetti (Ed.), pp. 239-253. Amsterdam, the Netherlands Kluwer Academic Publishers. 

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