Observation of exchange of micropore water in cement pastes by two-dimensional T-2-T-2 nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry

Abstract

The first detailed analysis of the two-dimensional (2D) NMR T-2-T-2 exchange experiment with a period of magnetization storage between the two T-2 relaxation encoding periods (T-2-store-T-2) is presented. It is shown that this experiment has certain advantages over the T-1-T-2 variant for the quantization of chemical exchange. New T-2-store-T-2 2D H-1 NMR spectra of the pore water within white cement paste are presented. Based on these spectra, the exchange rate of water between the two smallest porosity reservoirs is estimated for the first time. It is found to be of the order of 5 ms(-1). Further, a careful estimate of the pore sizes of these reservoirs is made. They are found to be of the order of 1.4 nm and 10-30 nm, respectively. A discussion of the results is developed in terms of possible calcium silicate hydrate products. A water diffusion coefficient inferred from the exchange rate and the cement particle size is found to compare favorably with the results of molecular-dynamics simulations to be found in the literature.

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