Blykers, Benjamin

Chambart, Hilde

Cnudde, Veerle

De Kock, Tim

Isebaert, Aurélie

Ghent University Academic Bibliography

Microscopic characterization of mineral building materials Benjamin K. Blykers1, Tim De Kock1, Aurélie Isebaert², Hilde Chambart², Veerle Cnudde1 1Pore-scale Processes in Geomaterials Research Group (PProGRess), Department of Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium ²Wienerberger nv/sa, Kapel ter Bede 121, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium In this research project we will answer several currently existing unknowns in the characterization of mineral building materials and their weathering. The first phase of this project focusses on the multi-scale characterization of the mineral building materials. Micro-tomography (µCT) and scanning electron microscopy – energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) will be used to identify the different components within the selected building materials. µCT is a non-destructive imaging technique which allows 3D characterization of structures within mineral building materials and  the identification of minerals based on the attenuation coefficient as each mineral has a unique attenuation coefficient which depends on their mineralogical composition, its density and X-ray energy. Without prior knowledge of the identity of the present minerals, however, it remains very challenging to identify which grey value in the µCT image corresponds to which mineral as µCT does not provide compositional information in the way that SEM-EDS does.  Both µCT and SEM-EDS will be used in this project to characterize different mineral building materials and to pinpoint the limitations of the current µCT setup. Where possible, optimal scanning parameters will be applied to enhance the contrast between different minerals. Besides mineral identification, attention will be given to multiscale pore structure characterization. As there is an important trade-off between resolution and sample size, a workflow will be set-up in order to characterize the material at different resolutions in order to obtain the multi-scale pore characteristics. In a further stage of this project also information of features smaller than the resolution will be obtained. Acknowledgements This research is part of the MoCCha-CT project, funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders in the Strategic Basic Research Programme (FWO-SBO). The authors also wish to express their gratitude to all the partners of the project for their cooperation.   

Microscopic characterization of mineral building materials

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8612633/file/8612638

Microscopic characterization of mineral building materials

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Ghent University Academic Bibliography