Surface-to-Volume Ratio of Porous Materials Obtained by a Combined Use of NMR and MIP

Porous materials are characterized by a finite and discrete number of pore radii by deconvoluting the respective mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) curves. Introducing a perturbed cylindrical pore model enables these MIP radii to be correlated to the NMR spin−lattice relaxation time T 1 of the pore-confined water to give the surface-to-volume ratio (S/V) of the pores. The technique is exemplified using four different well-hydrated white Portland cement pastes covering a wide distribution of pore sizes. However, the technique should be of general use when characterizing high surface-to-volume ratio materials.