Preferred orientation of ettringite in concrete fractures

Wenk, Hans-Rudolf; Monteiro, Paulo J. M.; Kunz, Martin; Chen, Kai; Tamura, Nobumichi; Lutterotti, Luca; Del Arroz, John

Type

Article

Authors

Wenk, Hans-Rudolf
Monteiro, Paulo J. M.

Kunz, Martin
Chen, Kai
Tamura, Nobumichi
Lutterotti, Luca
Del Arroz, John

KAUST Grant Number

KUS-I1-004-21

Date

2009-05-15

Online Publication Date

2009-05-15

Print Publication Date

2009-06-01

Permanent link to this record

http://hdl.handle.net/10754/599387

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Abstract

Sulfate attack and the accompanying crystallization of fibrous ettringite [Ca6Al2(OH)12(SO4) 3·26H2O] cause cracking and loss of strength in concrete structures. Hard synchrotron X-ray microdiffraction is used to quantify the orientation distribution of ettringite crystals. Diffraction images are analyzed using the Rietveld method to obtain information on textures. The analysis reveals that the c axes of the trigonal crystallites are preferentially oriented perpendicular to the fracture surfaces. By averaging single-crystal elastic properties over the orientation distribution, it is possible to estimate the elastic anisotropy of ettringite aggregates. © 2009 International Union of Crystallography.

Citation

Wenk H-R, Monteiro PJM, Kunz M, Chen K, Tamura N, et al. (2009) Preferred orientation of ettringite in concrete fractures. J Appl Crystallogr 42: 429–432. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S0021889809015349.

Sponsors

We acknowledge access to beamline 12.3.2 at the ALS of the LBNL and discussions with Sergio Speziale (Potsdam). This publication was based on work supported in part by award No. KUS-I1-004-21 made by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (to PJMM and HRW) and by NSF grant No. EAR 0836402. The ALS is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the US Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 at the LBNL.