Investigation of ordinary portland cement hydration mechanisms utilising X-ray mapping, in situ X-ray diffraction and in situ micro-CT

Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world, with water being the first. Cement in concrete accounts for 10-15 wt.% and the most widely used cement, is Portland Cement (PC). Consequently, PC has a high global demand with annual global pro- duction of approx. 4.6 billion tonnes with predicted growth to 6 billion tonnes by 2050. However, the production of PC has significant environmental impacts accounting for approx. 8% of global CO 2 emissions. For this reason, there is a considerable push to develop greener means of producing PC as well as alternative cements, including the addition of supplementary cementitious material (SCMs) to PC and other non-PC based mixtures.