Non-destructive evaluation of cement hydration with pulsed and continuous Terahertz electro-magnetic waves

Abstract

Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of cement hydration was conducted using pulsed and continuous-wave terahertz systems. The transmitted and reflected terahertz (THz) waves passing through the cement were measured and their relationship with the degree of the cement hydration was investigated. For an in-depth study, the chemical constituents and microstructure of the cement were analyzed through a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Consequently, a new prediction model for degree of hydration was proposed. The proposed model is the basic algorithm for estimating the cement hydration. Although this model needs additional experiments and research to be used in practice, it can be utilized as the basic measurement method to estimate the hydration degree of the cement