  Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging is able to visualize micro- to
nano-structures of cement and concrete. A prerequisite is that the sample
preparation preserves the native structure of the specimen. In this study,
argon Broad Ion Beam (BIB) sectioning is compared to state-of-the-art sample
preparation (resin embedding, polishing) for hydrated alite. Additionally, it
is investigated if during BIB, sample cooling is beneficial to avoid
deterioration of cement hydrates. The aim is to quantitatively measure phase
and pore size distributions in hardened alite pastes. Therefore, not only
optimized sample preparation but also optimized imaging conditions are
investigated. Finally, it is demonstrated that by image analysis pores down to
a diameter of 5 nm in hydrated alite pastes can be quantitatively analysed.
