The microstructure of the interfacial transition zone between steel and cement paste

Abstract The microstructures of steel/ordinary paste and steel/expansive paste interfaces were investigated. The Ca(OH) 2 orientation effect, the crystal sizes of Ca(OH) 2 and AFt, the morphologies and the relative percentages of the Si, Al, S and Ca elements of interfaces were specially studied. The results show that, under confined conditions, the microstructure of the steel/expansive paste interface is better than that of the steel/ordinary paste interface.