Universitätsbibliothek
Weimar Open Access

The exploration of cementitious materials using scanning electron microscopes (SEM) is mainly done using fractured or polished surfaces. This leads to high-resolution 2D-images that can be combined using EDX and EBSD to unveil details of the microstructure and composition of materials. Nevertheless, this does not provide a quantitative insight into the three-dimensional fine structure of for example C-S-H phases. The focused ion beam (FIB) technology can cut a block of material in thin layers of less than 10 nm. This gives us a volume of 1000 μm³ with a voxel resolution of down to 4 x 4 x 10 nm³. The results can be combined with simultaneously acquired EDX data to improve image segmentation. Results of the investigation demonstrate that it is possible to obtain close-to-native 3D-visualisation of the spatial distribution of unreacted C3S, C-S-H and CH. Additionally, an optimized preparation method allows us to quantify the fine structure of C-S-H phases (length, aspect ratio, …) and the pore space.