Freezing point depression and freeze-thaw damage by nanofluidic salt trapping
Tingtao Zhou, Mohammad Mirzadeh, Roland J.-M. Pellenq, Martin Z. Bazant
Abstract
A variety of biological and artificial porous materials can endure cold weather and freezing damage. For concrete pavements, the observed correlation between pavement damage and deicing salts, and the freeze-thaw damage of cement paste loaded with benzene (which contracts upon freezing), challenge the common wisdom that water expansion upon freezing causes damage. A mechanism of nanofluidic salt trapping is proposed in an attempt to explain these puzzling facts and better understand cryotolerance from a physical chemistry perspective.
Topics & Concepts
Freezing-point depressionFreezing pointTrappingSalt (chemistry)ChemistryPorous mediumPorositySalt waterMaterials scienceSalt solutionLimitingNanotechnologyLead (geology)Composite materialEnvironmental scienceGround freezingBiophysicsMineralogyLiquid waterMechanism (biology)Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport StudiesSmart Materials for ConstructionFreezing and Crystallization Processes