New Findings in Cementitious Materials (2nd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

The discovery and exploitation of materials has greatly influenced our advancement as a civilization and enabled great improvements in our quality of life. This is especially true in the case of the materials of modern construction, viz. cement, concrete, and steel, which have led to the emplacement of buildings and infrastructure which fulfill functions ranging from human habitation structures, to sanitation and water conveyance systems and infrastructure. While, unarguably, cement, concrete (i.e., a mixture of cement, sand, stone, and water), and steel have found extensive use in the construction of building and infrastructure—e.g., in the construction of framed steel and reinforced concrete structures—the environmental impact of these materials poses foundational challenges. For example, at the current level of production—around 4.2 B tons in 2022—cement alone is responsible for nearly 9% of global CO₂ emissions. This number is only expected to grow as development-related construction in Asia and Africa further expands the scale of cement production. This is an issue not only for the obvious impacts on climate change, but also because the imposition of CO₂ penalties is expected to, in time, double the price of cement. The implications of this are straightforward, i.e., materials engineers working in the civil engineering field need to:

• Identify alternate materials: Identify compositionally optimal, low-CO₂ materials which can be used to replace and thereby reduce the use of cement as the binder in concrete or propose novel, functionally effective, and environmentally friendly construction materials;
• Extend the service-life of infrastructure: Develop functional pathways to mitigate steel corrosion, which is unarguably the leading cause of premature structural decay of infrastructure.

Taking all of the above into consideration, this Special Issue aims to highlight recent findings and provide useful guidelines or problem solution options to consider for scientists and engineers dealing with sustainability and durability of the construction materials.

Dr. Lauren Yolanda Gómez-Zamorano
Dr. Magdalena Balonis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.