Measuring the long-term durability of new types of concrete and concrete technologies is crucial to their acceptance in the marketplace. This long-needed handbook of analytical techniques provides a complete reference to the cutting-edge procedures used to test today's innovative materials.

Ranging from chemical and thermal analysis, to IR and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, to Scanning Electron Microscopy, x-ray diffraction, computer modeling and more, the book provides first-hand explanations of modern methods -- contributed by 24 leading scientists, many of whom actually developed or refined the techniques. The book includes many analytic techniques, applied to a wide range of organic, inorganic and composite materials and additives.

Perfect for practitioners, students, and professional standards writers, the handbook is highly useful for scrutinizing materials in a variety of environments. It takes into account the many factors that affect the qualities of concrete -- temperature, pore and pore size distribution, surface area, and exposure -- gathering diverse evaluation methods into one convenient resource.

Key Features:

- Provides useful tools for analyzing durability related to the mechanisms of reaction and reactions affecting material properties and service life

- Includes methods for evaluating suitability of new materials

- Helps researchers isolate reasons for structural failures and identify issues requiring new codes, standards and methods

- Gives readers the tools to find new ways of predicting long-term materials performance