Conference Proceedings
Laser scanning confocal microscopic analysis of metakaolin-based geopolymers
JL Bell, WM Kriven, APR Johnson, F Caruso
Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings | AMER CERAMIC SOC | Published : 2008
Abstract
Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) is a microscopy technique that has the capability of transmitting light through thin sections of material, to visualize a 2-dimensional plane of the sample interior. Computer software is then used to form 3-dimensional representations of the sample from multiple 2-dimensional scans. In this study, LSCM was employed to resolve the distribution of the formed geopolymer phase and metakaolin precursors in geopolymers with varying molar ratios (M2O·Al 2O3 ·xSiO2, where x = 0, 1, 2 and M = Na+, K+, or Na/K = 1) and make correlations between the observed distributions and the degree of reaction between the two precursors. LSCM analysis agreed with results i..
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Awarded by US Air Force office of Scientific Research under an STTR Stage 11
Awarded by U.S. Department of Energy
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the US Air Force office of Scientific Research under an STTR Stage 11 grant, number FA 95550-04-0063. This work was carried during a student exchange visit by Jonathan Bell to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Melbourne. Victoria, Australia. We gratefully acknowledge Prof. Jannie van Deventer, of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Dean of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Australia, for hosting the student exchange visit. Use is also acknowledged of some of the facilities at the Center for Microanalysis of Materials in the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, which is partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DEFG02-91-ER45439.