Revealing the Dark Side of Portlandite Clusters in Cement Paste by Circular Polarization Microscopy

Plane and crossed polarization are the two standard light modes in polarized light microscopy that are widely used to characterize crystalline and amorphous phases in cement-based materials. However, the use of the crossed polarized light mode has been found to be restrictive for studying birefringent phases quantitatively due to the extinction phenomenon that arises depending on the crystal orientation. This paper introduces circular polarization microscopy as an alternative technique to overcome the extinction problem during the examination of cementitious materials’ microstructure with optical microscopy. In order to evaluate the feasibility of this technique, selected optical and micromorphological features of portlandite clusters were investigated in cement paste. Image analysis results showed that compared to the conventional crossed polarization technique, circular polarization offers significant advantages when portlandite quantification is of interest, and it stands out as a promising low-cost alternative to backscattered electron microscopy.