TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydration of tricalcium aluminate and gypsum pastes on the International Space Station
AU - Collins, Peter J.
AU - Grugel, Richard N.
AU - Radlińska, Aleksandra
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the NASA's Space Life and Physical Sciences Research (SLPSRA) program and the NASA grant NNX17AC48G for providing funding for this work. Appreciation is expressed to the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium for sponsoring the first author's time at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and insights from the EM31 Materials Diagnostics team. The project would not have been possible without the wonderful oversight of David Donovan, Karen Stephens, and Pam Denkins. Valuable suggestions were provided by Jan Olek, Maria Juenger, Kim Kurtis, Jason Ideker, and Sulapha Peethamparan during the planning stages. Lastly, the authors are most grateful for the help of the astronauts from Expedition 56: Drew Fuestel, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, Ricky Arnold, Alexander Gerst, Sergey Prokopyev, and Oleg Artemyev.
Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Research (SLPSRA) program and the NASA grant NNX17AC48G for providing funding for this work. Appreciation is expressed to the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium for sponsoring the first author’s time at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and insights from the EM31 Materials Diagnostics team. The project would not have been possible without the wonderful oversight of David Donovan, Karen Stephens, and Pam Denkins. Valuable suggestions were provided by Jan Olek, Maria Juenger, Kim Kurtis, Jason Ideker, and Sulapha Peethamparan during the planning stages. Lastly, the authors are most grateful for the help of the astronauts from Expedition 56: Drew Fuestel, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, Ricky Arnold, Alexander Gerst, Sergey Prokopyev, and Oleg Artemyev.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/5/24
Y1 - 2021/5/24
N2 - A microstructural analysis of tricalcium aluminate (C3A) and gypsum pastes that hydrated in microgravity (10-6 g relative to Earth's gravity) were studied and compared to identical samples processed in terrestrial gravity (1g). The experiments were conducted by astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to understand the influence that microgravity has on the hydration of the cementitious systems. The samples were either quenched with isopropyl alcohol to track any microstructural differences as a function of time or were left to hydrate for the duration of their presence on the ISS. At early ages, the microgravity samples exhibit a comparatively differing microstructure. The dissolution of the gypsum is influenced by the microgravity environment and exhibits unique features such as heavy striations and, at lower gypsum concentrations, a thin reaction shell outlining the original gypsum morphology that persists through the first day of hydration.
AB - A microstructural analysis of tricalcium aluminate (C3A) and gypsum pastes that hydrated in microgravity (10-6 g relative to Earth's gravity) were studied and compared to identical samples processed in terrestrial gravity (1g). The experiments were conducted by astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to understand the influence that microgravity has on the hydration of the cementitious systems. The samples were either quenched with isopropyl alcohol to track any microstructural differences as a function of time or were left to hydrate for the duration of their presence on the ISS. At early ages, the microgravity samples exhibit a comparatively differing microstructure. The dissolution of the gypsum is influenced by the microgravity environment and exhibits unique features such as heavy striations and, at lower gypsum concentrations, a thin reaction shell outlining the original gypsum morphology that persists through the first day of hydration.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.122919
DO - 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.122919
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102371320
SN - 0950-0618
VL - 285
JO - Construction and Building Materials
JF - Construction and Building Materials
M1 - 122919
ER -