Hydration hardening supersaturation

By all means, the most important and at the same time the oldest nanotechnology in the world is the hydration hardening of cements. Of special interest here is the fact that the nucleation taking place in the supersaturated phase controls both the formation of new phase particles and the formation of bridges between these particles. 

The effect of hardening conditions on internal stresses (Adid) was studied using specimens of finely disperse Mg(OH)2 with a surface area on the order of tens of mVg. The results indicated a considerable dependence of the internal stresses on the degree of supersaturation, a (a = c/Cq, c, concentration Co, equilibrium solubility), reached in the course of the hydration of a mineral binder in an aqueous slurry. The AdId values increased with both the ino-ease in the degree of dispersion and the decrease in the W/S ratio, as shown in Table 6.12. 

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