Dissolution Kinetics of Cubic Tricalcium Aluminate Measured by Digital Holographic Microscopy

Published

August 25, 2017

Author(s)

Alexander Brand, Jeffrey W. Bullard

Abstract

In situ digital holographic microscopy is used to characterize the dissolution flux of polycrystalline cubic tricalcium aluminate (C3A-c) in flowing water. The results show that C3A-c dissolves at rates that vary considerably with time and location, implying a statistical distribution of fluxes. The dissolution flux from highly crystalline C3A-c depends exponentially on the water activity, with exponent of 5.2, and extrapolates to a median flux of −2.1 μmol m−2 s−1. The flux from a less crystalline source of C3A-c has a water activity exponent of 4.6 and a median flux of only −1.4 μmol m−2 s−1. These data suggest that the bulk dissolution rate of C3A-c can vary by at least 30 % from one source to another and that variability in the local rate within a single material is even greater because of the heterogeneous spatial distribution of structural characteristics (i.e., degree of crystallinity, chemical impurities, and defects).

Citation

Langmuir

Volume

33

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

Ca3Al2O6, kinetics, image analysis, digital holographic microscopy

Citation

Brand, A. and Bullard, J. (2017), Dissolution Kinetics of Cubic Tricalcium Aluminate Measured by Digital Holographic Microscopy, Langmuir, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02400 (Accessed April 18, 2024)