A theoretical argument for the existence of high strength cement pastes

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the volume of porosity or whether the size of individual pores is responsible for controlling strength in cement paste. The suggestion given here, and recently by Birchall, Howard and Kendall, is that the conventional strength — total porosity relation is largely fortuitous. Emphasis is placed upon the maximum pore size as being responsible for the strength characteristics of cement paste. Attention is drawn to the non-linear nature of the strength — critical flaw size curve and finally the influence of pore linkage is discussed.

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