Understanding cement hydration at the microscale: new opportunities from `pencil-beam' synchrotron X-ray diffraction tomography

Improved data collection and analysis strategies concerning the `pencil-beam' synchrotron X-ray diffraction tomography technique have been used to obtain quantitative information about the spatial distribution and time evolution of all the phases present in complex systems, such as hydrated cement samples.

RieCalc: quantitative phase analysis of hydrating cement pastes

This contribution illustrates the use of the MATLAB program RieCalc, which calculates rescaled phase fractions (including amorphous phases) and theoretical heat curves for a hydrating cement system having a number n of crystalline phases, by means of a simple graphical user interface, using Rietveld refined X-ray diffraction data as input.