Macro-Defect-Free Cement: A Review

Cement-based materials have been traditionally formed by casting. The amount of water used in the casting process determines the porosity of the hardened material. The water requirements, and the tendency for cement grains to agglomerate, result in hardened cement paste having high porosity and a wide range of pore sizes. Consequently, such materials are not very strong and contain critical flaws whose dimensions are of the order of 0.1 mm. Although improvements in particle packing and particle dispersion to reduce porosity have resulted in significant increases in strength, such materials are still very brittle and have relatively low tensile and flexural strengths.