Abstract
The properties of cement paste are greatly influenced by its pore structure. The objective of this paper is to discover the three-dimensional (3-D) pore structure at different scales based on X-ray computed tomography (XCT) and focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM). The obtained pore characteristics include porosity, pore size distribution (PSD), pore shape, orientation, connectivity and tortuosity. The measured pore shapes are far from the simplified shapes commonly used in modelling. The results show that the pore structure measured by FIB/SEM is more heterogeneous than that by XCT. Furthermore, the pore connectivity decreases when the water-cement ratio decreases, and the curing age increases or fly ash/slag is added. The connectivity reduction due to fly ash is much greater through the observation of XCT compared to FIB/SEM. The transport-related tortuosity is different from the geometric tortuosity, and the diffusional tortuosity exhibits a larger discrepancy from the hydraulic tortuosity at a lower porosity.
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