STUDY OF GREEN CEMENT SLURRY STRUCTURE BY SCANNING ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY

The microstructure of a green cement slurry during shear deformation a nd vibration has been investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Th e slurry was shown to exhibit an increase in pore space and particle a ggregate size during shear deformation. The structure became substanti ally more homogeneous (on the basis of porosity) in microaggregate siz e under the action of vibration. Microstructure was also affected by v arious types of plasticizers. The data obtained enabled us to move clo ser to explaining the mechanism of structure breakdown during flow.