Does C–S–H particle shape matter? A discussion of the paper ‘Modelling elasticity of a hydrating cement paste’, by Julien Sanahuja, Luc Dormieux and Gilles Chanvillard. CCR 37 (2007) 1427–1439

In their inspiring paper, Sanahuja et al. (CCR (37) 1427–1439) add a new dimension and degree of freedom for implementing the Materials Science Paradigm between microstructure and properties of cement-based materials, which is the particle aspect ratio of C–S–H elementary building block. The question addressed in this discussion is how far this departure from the perfect disordered morphology of C–S–H is truly relevant for cement-based materials.