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From soft polymeric gels to hardened cement paste, amorphous solids under constant load exhibit a pronounced time-dependent deformation called creep. The microscopic mechanism of such a phenomenon is poorly understood and constitutes a significant challenge in densely packed and chemically reactive granular systems. Both features are prominently present in hydrating cement pastes composed of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) nanoparticles, whose packing density increases as a function of time, while cements hydration is taking place. Performing nano-indentation tests and porosity measurements on a large collection of samples at various hydration degrees, we show that the creep response of hydrating cement paste is mainly controlled by the inter-particle distance, and results from slippage between (C-S-H) nanoparticles. Our findings, which pave the way for the design of concrete with improved creep resistance, provide a unique insight into the microscopic mechanism underpinning the creep response in aging granular materials.
Colloidal gels are formed through the aggregation of attractive particles, whose size ranges from 10~nm to a few micrometers, suspended in a liquid. Such gels are ubiquitous in everyday life applications, from food products to paints or construction
Attractive colloidal dispersions, suspensions of fine particles which aggregate and frequently form a space spanning elastic gel are ubiquitous materials in society with a wide range of applications. The colloidal networks in these materials can exis
Mechanical creep behaviors of natural gas hydrates (NGHs) are of importance for understanding mechanical instability of gas hydrate-bearing sediments on Earth. Limited by the experimental challenges, intrinsic creep mechanisms of nanocrystalline meth
Shear transformations, as fundamental rearrangement events operating in local regions, hold the key of plastic flow of amorphous solids. Despite their importance, the dynamic features of shear transformations are far from clear. Here, we use a colloi
We sandwich a colloidal gel between two parallel plates and induce a radial flow by lifting the upper plate at a constant velocity. Two distinct scenarios result from such a tensile test: ($i$) stable flows during which the gel undergoes a tensile de