Ice Crystallization and Liquid Transport

In this chapter, we move our insight on the freezing liquid in cement pores. The freezing of pore water significantly impacts the deterioration of cement concrete materials under freezing–thawing conditions. For the pore water, the crystallization of ice in confined space can exert significant pressure on the solids. Given that the porous cementitious materials have a wide distribution of pore sizes, the larger pores freeze before the smaller pores. This nonequilibrium process is therefore accompanied by cryo-suction, in which the frozen large spaces suck liquid water from the unfrozen spaces through the nanometric unfrozen water film. The thermodynamic analysis indicates that the cryo-suction occurring in the pore space can lead to the cryo-swelling of porous solids. Herein, we present an atomistic view for the active processes of ice crystallization and liquid transport.