Open Access

Thilo Bintz, Sabine Kruschwitz

• In the quest to combat climate change, the construction industry, heavily reliant on cement-based materials, faces scrutiny due to significant CO2 emissions, mainly from clinker production. To address this, there’s a need to strategically reduce clinker content in cement. However, these new formulations must meet the same requirements as the original ones, so their durability must be investigated. In this study, we determined material parameters that enable an assessment of moisture and ion transport. These methods offer advantages over conventional approaches, including non-destructiveness, reduced measurement time, simplified setup, enhanced resolution, and improvement of detection limits. Our investigation utilizes NDT techniques, using 1H NMR relaxometry for moisture transport and LIBS for ion transport in various clinker-reduced materials. The NMR tomograph provides spatial insights into internal moisture transport, correlated with weight change assessments for the capillaryIn the quest to combat climate change, the construction industry, heavily reliant on cement-based materials, faces scrutiny due to significant CO2 emissions, mainly from clinker production. To address this, there’s a need to strategically reduce clinker content in cement. However, these new formulations must meet the same requirements as the original ones, so their durability must be investigated. In this study, we determined material parameters that enable an assessment of moisture and ion transport. These methods offer advantages over conventional approaches, including non-destructiveness, reduced measurement time, simplified setup, enhanced resolution, and improvement of detection limits. Our investigation utilizes NDT techniques, using 1H NMR relaxometry for moisture transport and LIBS for ion transport in various clinker-reduced materials. The NMR tomograph provides spatial insights into internal moisture transport, correlated with weight change assessments for the capillary transport coefficient. Additionally, based on NMR relaxometry data the chloride diffusion coefficient is estimated. Chloride migration tests are performed, and results are evaluated using LIBS and indicator tests for the chloride migration coefficient. Our findings highlight NMR relaxometry and LIBS advantages over conventional methods, showcasing superior spatial resolution, non-destructiveness, and, in some cases, expedited results with independence from the formulation of the cement matrix. Thus, these new methods can be used to test the durability of new, more heterogeneous cementbased building.…