Cement content determination through selective stain in hardened concrete

A cement quantification method has been developed in Ø 15 × 30 cm concrete specimens applying selective stain. A tannic acid–tartaric acid solution was used to stain the cement paste. This paper explains the procedure to determine the quantity of cement in the samples: the reagents utilised for the stain, preparation, cutting and stain of the specimens, the capture and treatment of images of the stained samples, and the preparation of the calibration curves. Next, we assess the accuracy of this method and include the resolution of a practical case in which a comparison is drawn between the values obtained through the application of this method and those obtained using a ‘reference’ method.