ABSTRACT
The specimens used in the techniques for pore structure determination described in the following chapters, must first be crushed or sawed, prepared and stored properly, and then used for testing. Specimen preparation and pretreatment is very important because total porosity values and pore size distributions determined are affected by the pretreatment technique used. The general procedures and principles of pretreatment that have been developed and are commonly used by researchers are described in this chapter. However, several researchers might develop a combination of pretreatment techniques, if they find it more appropriate for their needs. The preparation techniques described include procedures for water removal before microstructural analysis in mature cement pastes, and preparation techniques for optical observations of microstructure and air void analysis using microscopic techniques.
