Application of thermoporometry for evaluation of properties of hardened cement paste

• Thermoporometry (TPM) was applied to the evaluation of hardened cement paste properties.
• Good correlation was seen in pore volume measured by TPM and properties.
• It is possible to evaluate properties of hardened cement paste by TPM using LT-DSC.

Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) has been widely used for the evaluation of the pore structure of hardened cement paste. However, treatment with mercury is dangerous and causes environmental damage. Therefore, we investigated the pore structure of hardened cement paste by thermoporometry (TPM) using low-temperature differential scanning calorimetry (LT-DSC) measurements as an alternative to MIP in this study. The compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and electrical conductivity were measured as the properties of hardened cement paste. Good correlation was demonstrated between the pore volume measured by TPM and these properties. It was shown that it is possible to evaluate the properties of hardened cement paste by TPM using LT-DSC.