Direct Observation of Carbonate Formation in Partly Hydrated Tricalcium Silicate by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy

Solid-state NMR combined with dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP NMR) is used to study hydration processes in tricalcium silicate (Ca3SiO5, abbreviated as C3S) samples. The studied C3S samples have experienced early stage hydration (1–30 h) and slow aging (9 years) processes. The appearance of Q3 and Q4 lines in the 29Si MAS and 1H → 29Si CP MAS NMR spectra obtained for partly hydrated C3S samples indicated the formation of amorphous silica which corresponds to their carbonation, which was corroborated by complementary FTIR data. Significant DNP signal enhancements obtained for the studied samples allowed to further investigate the C3S carbonation process in detail employing the 1H → 29Si CP MAS FSLG HETCOR technique. Finally, DNP enhanced 1H → 13C CP MAS and 1H → 13C CP MAS FSLG HETCOR techniques enabled to directly observe the formation of carbonate moieties in partly hydrated C3S samples.