Durability Assessment and Permeability Characterization of Cementitious Materials
Summary
Durability assessment and permeability characterisation of cementitious materials address the capacity of concrete and mortar to resist deterioration over their intended service life. Durability is governed by the interaction of mechanical loads, chemical attack and environmental factors such as freeze–thaw cycles, chloride ingress and carbonation. Central to this is the pore network architecture: porosity, pore size distribution and connectivity determine the ease with which aggressive agents and moisture migrate. Permeability characterisation quantifies these transport properties, typically by measuring gas or water permeability coefficients and sorptivity under controlled conditions. Advanced imaging techniques—such as X-ray computed tomography and focused ion beam microscopy—together with indirect methods like mercury intrusion porosimetry and nuclear magnetic resonance, reveal multiscale pore structures and underpin predictive models of transport. The integration of supplementary cementitious materials and tailored admixtures offers routes to densify microstructure, reduce permeability and extend service life. Modelling frameworks now link microstructural parameters to macroscopic performance, guiding performance-based specifications. These developments have global significance for sustainable infrastructure, informing the design of durable bridges, tunnels, marine structures and nuclear containment vessels.
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Durability Assessment and Permeability Characterization of Cementitious Materials publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in durability assessment and permeability characterization of cementitious materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Porosity: proportion of void volume within a hardened cementitious matrix.
Permeability coefficient: measure of the ease with which fluids or gases traverse a material under a pressure gradient.
Capillary pores: pores typically in the 10–1 000 nm range that dominate fluid transport in cementitious materials.
Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP): indirect technique that applies pressure to intrude mercury into pores, yielding pore size distribution data.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR): non-destructive method using proton relaxation to assess pore volumes and connectivity.
Sorptivity: rate at which a porous material absorbs and transmits water by capillarity.
Viscosity-modifying agent (VMA): admixture used to adjust rheology and stability of fresh cementitious mixes.
References
- Pore Structure Characterization of Hardened Cement Paste by Multiple Methods. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering (2019).
- Service life design and modelling of concrete structures – background, developments, and implementation. Revista ALCONPAT (2018).
- Effect of SF and GGBS on Pore Structure and Transport Properties of Concrete. Materials (2024).
- Study on the effect of VMA admixture for concrete cured under different conditions on air permeability and sorptivity. Construction and Building Materials (2022).
- Permeability of Concrete and Correlation with Microstructure Parameters Determined by 1H NMR. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering (2020).
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