Study of the in-situ growth of carbon nanofibers on cement clinker

Because fibres are difficult to disperse evenly in cement-based materials, we attempted to grow carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in situ on Portland cement clinker particles using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The results show that the phase compositions and alite polymorph didn't change for the Portland cement clinker treated at 600 °C in the atmosphere of blended gas containing argon (Ar), hydrogen (H₂) and acetylene (C₂H₂). The CNFs was successfully grown in situ on the Portland cement clinker due to the reaction of C₂H₂ in the presence of H₂. The diameter and length of the CNFs were 20-30 nm and 0.6-0.9 μm respectively. C₃S is the main component of cement clinker. The hydration of C₃S plays a crucial role in the performance of cementitious composites. The hydration of C₃S was significantly delayed and reduced due to the incorporation of CNFs.