Nanoscale insights on the stress corrosion mechanism of calcium- silicate-hydrate

W Zhang and J Sun and DW Ding and DS Hou, JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING, 80, 107991 (2023).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2023.107991

In this research, the stress corrosion mechanism of cement-based materials is revealed from a nanoscale viewpoint by exploring the evolution of mechanics and structure for calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) under the external mechanical loads and aqueous environment through the molecular dynamics simulation. It was found that the stress corrosion leads to the reduction of as high as 12% in fracture toughness. This is ascribed to the presence of water, which would attack the interlayer bonding, changes the closely connected Ca-O bonding into weakened hydrogen-bonded hydroxyls, and thus lead to the damage of the model at the crack tip.

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