Portland cement clinker light microscopy

According to Insley (1936), polished section examination of Portland cement clinker was reported by Stern (1908) and by Wetzel (1913) but, largely due to poor technique, the metallographic method was abandoned until Tavasci s very detailed paper in 1934 in which reflected-light microscopy was combined with that from transmitted light. 

Cariou, B. Ranc, R. and Sorrentino, F., "Industrial Application of Quantitative Study of Portland Cement Clinker Through Reflected Light Microscopy," Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Cement Microscopy, International Cement Microscopy Association,SanAntonio,Texas, 1988, pp. 277-284. 

Brown s most widely known published work is his Microscopical Study of Clinkers (1948) in which 21 different lots of clinkers were microscopically studied at the Portland Cement Association laboratories in order to correlate mineral composition with what Brown termed the degrees of burning in the cement kiln and concrete durability. Although Brown s description and interpretation of what he termed the glass and dark prismatic phase may be questionable in the light of recent research, his work in clinker and concrete microscopy was seminal. Brown contributed significantly to the discussion of clinker phases in a book by Insley and Frechette (1955). 

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