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- Cement hydration (2)
- High resolution (2)
- In-situ (2)
- SyXRD (2)
- X-ray diffraction (2)
- ADT (1)
- AFM (1)
- Acoustic levitator (1)
- Acoustic levition (1)
- Caffeine (1)
Setting cement: Highly dynamic hydration processes that occur during the first seconds of cement hydration were studied by time-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Polycarboxylate ether additives were found to influence the formation of the initial crystalline hydration products on a molecular level.
The use of Automated electron Diffraction Tomography (ADT) is presented as a novel approach for crystallization studies at the nanometer scale for nonequilibrium phases. Here, ADT was applied to elucidate the structural identity of the recently reported hexagonal morphology of caffeine crystals, which grow only on specific surfaces. Caffeine was crystallized from solution on a specially treated TEM carbon grid. The analysis of ADT data revealed that the lattice parameters of these hexagons match those of the high temperature α-form of caffeine. Furthermore, it was observed that in this hexagonal morphology, the α-form remained stable for a prolonged period of time. The stabilization of hexagons can be interpreted in terms of enhanced interactions with the supporting surfaces.
Höchst dynamische Hydratationsprozesse in den ersten Sekunden bei der Entstehung eines Bauwerkes lassen sich mithilfe von Synchrotron-Röntgenbeugung mit einer sehr hohen Zeitauflösung nachverfolgen. Der Schwerpunkt lag dabei auf der Beeinflussung der Bildung erster kristalliner Hydratationsprodukte während des Frühstadiums der Zementhydratation.
Acoustic levitation represents the physical background of trapping a sample in a standing acoustic wave with no contact to the wave generating device. For the last three decades, sample holders based on this effect have been commonly used for contact free handling of samples coupled with a number of analytical techniques. In this study, a wall-free climate unit is presented, which allows the control of the environmental conditions of suspended samples. The insulation is based on a continuous cold/hot gas flow around the sample and thus does not require any additional isolation material. This provides a direct access to the levitated sample and circumvents any influence of the climate unit material to the running analyses.
A systematic crystal morphology study on the pharmaceutical model compound caffeine has been conducted on different surfaces: silicon, silver, soda lime glass, and silver subsurface ion-exchanged soda-lime silicate (SIMO) glasses. The morphology of the solid caffeine deposits has been investigated using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Needle-shaped caffeine crystals have been observed by drop-casting and also by applying the rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS) technique using supercritical carbon dioxide. The aspect ratio of the crystalline needles typically vary between 10 and 100, but have been observed as large as 500. The XRD data of the RESS products indicate unambiguously the presence of the thermodynamically most stable polymorph of caffeine known as the β-form. Under defined conditions we observe a unique, surface-mediated morphology for caffeine crystals with nearly perfect hexagonal shape. The relative fraction of the hexagons was seen to strongly increase especially when SIMO glasses were used. These hexagons have a distinct upper size limit depending on the solvent and substrate being used. The size distribution analysis of the hexagons yielded an average perimeter of typically 10 µm. The mechanism of the formation process of this new hexagonal motif is explained in terms of the spinodal dewetting of the thin film of caffeine solution on the surface.