Spin-Lattice Relaxation of Water in Cement Gels

Abstract

The time evolution of the magnetization relaxation recovery of exchangeable water in ordinary Portland cement and white cement have been studied as functions of the hydration time together with the temperature and Larmor frequency dependence of the proton spin-lattice relaxation rates. The water self-diffusion coefficient was also studied as a function of both the hydration time and the diffusion time. The results show that the exchangeable water relaxes via cross relaxation to the gel protons, which are in turn relaxed via spin diffusion to paramagnetic impurities. The roughness of the gel-water interface and the wide distribution of pore sizes result in a stretched exponential nuclear magnetization relaxation recovery with the exponent reflecting the fractal geometry of the hydrating cement gel.