¹H NMR relaxation analysis of cement-based materials: the spin-lock T₁𝜌 experiment and the partitioning of water in C-S-H inter-layer spaces
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
McDonald, Peter J
Faux, David A
Ma, Longfei
Wong, Hong
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
n recent years,1H NMR relaxometry has become a mainstream methodology for study of the nano-porosity of cement-based materials. For the most part, measurements have been carried out using variants of the classic CPMG 𝑇2 and solid-echo NMR pulse sequences and, to a lesser extent, the inversion recovery 𝑇1 sequence. Notwithstanding considerable successes, these methods all have one or another disadvantage, quite often associated with reliable differentiation of the so-called inter-layer and quasi-crystalline water fractions. In this paper, we introduce the application of the 𝑇1𝜌 spin-lock experiment as a convenient alternative methodology. Early results are presented. Measuring 𝑇1𝜌 overcomes some of the earlier difficulties, potentially has some wider advantages but also has raised some interesting questions of interpretation associated with the partitioning of water between C-S-H interlayer spaces and quasi-crystalline phases.
Date Issued
2026-03-01
Date Acceptance
2025-12-16
Citation
Cement and Concrete Research, 2026, 201
ISSN
0008-8846
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Cement and Concrete Research
Volume
201
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
108125
Date Publish Online
2025-12-23