The research aims at addressing the issues of environmental sustainability of cement materials. This is of fundamental interest to fulfil the ambition to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

A central theme is to understand the basic mechanisms controlling the reactivity of cement depending on binder composition and activating solutions, and how the early stage reactivity controls the final mechanical properties.

Materials under investigation include Portland cement, cement blended with low-CO2 supplements as calcined clays and/or industrial by-products, clinker-free binders, cement blended with CO2-mineralization products.

A wide range of analytical techniques are used to investigate materials from the atomic scale to macroscale, including thermodynamic modelling, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray total scattering methods coupled to atomistic modelling, scanning electron imaging and microanalysis, isothermal calorimetry, rheological and compressive strength measurements.

Professors coordinating and developing projects related to this research pathway: Gilberto Artioli, Maria Chiara Dalconi, Antonio Galgaro, Luca Valentini, Eloisa Di Sipio