Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Materials science is the discipline of studying the relationships between structures and properties of materials. In the case of concrete as an engineering material most research has focussed on properties or on microstructure, but only modest progress has been made on establishing relationships between them. In other words a lot of work has been done in the area of strength, fracture toughness [1], shrinkage [2,3], creep and microcracking [2,4], and microstructure each as somewhat isolated subjects [5]. Microstructure has not been related to properties in a quantitative manner.