Version 2.0 Update

A prototype database of 16 cements has been established to supercede this two-dimensional imaging process. The cements are available at http://ciks.cbt.nist.gov/bentz/phpct/database/images. From the main selection form, the user simply selects their cement of interest by clicking on the "radio button" immediately to the left of each description. When this form is submitted, a color-coded 2-D image of the cement will be returned along with information on the quantitative phase analysis of the 2-D image(s) and a measured cement particle size distribution (PSD) for the cement. This information can be used to generate a three-dimensional starting microstructure as described in the section which follows. An example image for Cement 133 issued by the Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory (CCRL) of NIST in June of 1999 [9] is shown in Fig. 1. The accompanying quantiative analysis information is provided in Fig. 2, with the measured and discretized cement PSD provided in Table 2.

  

Figure 1: Two-dimensional processed SEM/X-ray image for cement 133 issued by the CCRL (NIST) in June of 1999. Color assignments are: red- C₃S, aqua- C₂S, green- C₃A, yellow- C₄AF, pale green- gypsum, white- free lime (CaO), dark blue (purple)- K₂SO₄, light magenta- periclase (magnesium containing phase). Image is 256 µm x 200 µm.

 

  

Figure 2: Description of the quantitative analysis for cement 133 issued by the CCRL (NIST) in June of 1999.

 

Table 2: Discretized Cement Particle Size Distribution for CCRL Cement 133

Diameter (µm)	Mass fraction
1.0	0.1348
3.0	0.1303
5.0	0.09456
7.0	0.07349
9.0	0.06085
11.0	0.0507
13.0	0.04221
15.0	0.03775
17.0	0.033935
19.0	0.028
21.0	0.02565
23.0	0.0233
25.0	0.02115
27.0	0.019
29.0	0.019
31.0	0.0228
35.0	0.0347
41.0	0.02658
47.0	0.0454
61.0	0.0358
73.0	0.040025

Two-dimensional to Three-