Microstructural Study of the Interfacial Transition Zone in Concrete using Optical Microscopy

Khairul Nizar Ismail,Tan Let Hui,M.A.B Abdullah,S.Z Abd Rahim,M.N Mat Saad,M.F Ghazali,M.E Muhammad Suandi

doi:10.1051/matecconf/20179701043

Khairul Nizar Ismail, Tan Let Hui + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20179701043

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Journal: MATEC Web of Conferences	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
Citations: 2	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Universiti Malaysia Perlis

Abstract

This paper presents an overview on the optical microstructural features in concrete. Microstructure is the small scale structure of a material, defined as the structure of a prepared surface of material as revealed by a microscope. The concrete specimens with the manipulation of water/cement ratio 0.3-0.7 (increment of 0.1) in the concrete mix design were used to study the optical microstructural features in concrete and to validate the existence of an interfacial transition zone (ITZ) in concrete. USB Digital Microscope is used to analyse the formation mechanism of microstructure in concrete where the optical microstructural images is analyse via respective curing periods of 1, 7, 28 and 56 days. The microstructure features are discussed with respect to their influence on the strength development of concrete.

Highlights

Concrete is the single most widely used material in the world, concrete behaviour is complex at it microscopic level
When the w/c ratio is high which mean the bigger amount of water in a concrete mix, the more dilute the cement paste will be and affects the compressive strength and leads to the porosity
The three phases in concrete consisted of the aggregates phase, bulk cement paste and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ)

Summary

Introduction

Concrete is the single most widely used material in the world, concrete behaviour is complex at it microscopic level. Microstructure can be observed by using a range of microscopy methods. The typical practiced are the optical microscopy and SEM analysis. It is crucial to select the microscopy methods by considering the length scale of the observations to study the microstructure of a material. Optical microscopy is applied to supplement the cement matrix composite test results. The advantage of using an optical microscope in concrete examination is that, it offers larger field of view [1]

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