Abstract

Cement hydration is a process where the raw materials convert to cementitious gel moiety. The rate of conversion is significantly enhanced by the presence of some nanomaterials. Herein, a fluffy-porous Al₂O₃ on carbon nanofibers for inducing cement hydration process was employed. This study mainly utilizes Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) to quantify the degree of hydration. The hydration degree is dictated by measuring Ca+/Si ratio. It was found that Ca+/Si ratio decreases as from Al₂O₃/CNFs to CNFs compared to the plain C0 specimens. It is believed that Al₂O₃ nanolayer offers huge population of active sites such as (OH^-) which was confirmed by zeta-potential analysis. These nucleation sites attract cations facilitating the hydration process. This research is a step forward on understanding the Al₂O₃ nanolayer effect on cement hydration process.

Keywords:Cement hydration; Nanomaterials; Carbon nano fibers; Portland cement