ABSTRACT
Electron microscopy is one of the most powerful techniques for studying the microstructure of cementitious materials. Since the publication of the first fracture surface imaged via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Chatterji and Jeffery 1966), many advances have been made, perhaps, most notably, the imaging of polished sections by backscattered electrons (BSEs) (Scrivener 2004). Nowadays SEMs are widespread and even benchtop machines are available at relatively low cost. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has also made a significant contribution to understanding these materials, although this is much less widely used due to more limited availability of instrumentation and difficult sample preparation.
