News

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New Group Member

We typically hire new students during the Fall and the Spring semester. However, we have made an exception this year, and hired a new student during the Summer term. The student is quite young but appears to be highly motivated – which is the key criteria for successful entry in our group.

The student will be initially mentored by a senior member of the group (who was also a summer recruit, a few years ago). An agreement has been made between the two for collaboration, and all concerned parties have kindly agreed.

The (tentative) thesis title for this new student is,

“Novel Mechanisms for Disrupting Parents’ Sleep during Nightime.”

Publications are on their way.

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Seed Funding on Municipal Solid-Waste

Efficient management of municipal solid waste involves primarily three practices: landfilling, recycling, and incineration for energy recovery (waste-to-energy or WTE). Out of the ~250 million tons of waste produced each year in the US, approximately 140 million tons is landfilled, 80 million tons is recycled, and 30 million tons is incinerated for energy.  This alternative to traditional waste management (“Waste-to-Energy”) is gaining traction, but remains less than sustainable: The ash generated as a result of incineration can be dangerous to handle and expensive to dispose of. Often, the ash ends up in landfills.

Garg Group has recently been awarded seed funding from the Institute of Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois to explore the use of these ashes as building materials in construction. Prof. Garg in collaboration with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center will be utilizing this funding to seek external grants.

We are excited to venture into this important and critical field of waste management.

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New Graduate Students

Garg group welcomes the first set of graduate students! Pratyush and Krishna joined the group in Fall 2019. Pablo and Vikram joined us in Spring 2020. Together, we’re working towards our common objective of building a better and sustainable world.

Currently, we’re looking forward to add more team members. Multiple positions for grad students for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 are currently open. If you’re interested in joining us, apply online.

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Invited Lecture in Chile

Prof. Garg was recently invited to the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile to give a lecture on his research on alkali-activated materials. This visit and lecture were organized at the Department of Engineering and Construction Management.

Part of this visit also included a tour of some of the unique architecture that is present in Santiago, Chile. These structures are particularly impressive not just because of their unique material choice but also that they are built to survive regular seismic activity.

(UC Innovation Center)

(Templo Bahá’í de Sudamérica)

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New Publication on C-S-H

A new publication titled “Nanoscale Ordering and Depolymerization of Calcium Silicate Hydrates in the Presence of Alkalis” was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C in September 2019.

Sustainable cements like alkali-activated materials often contain non-negligible amounts of alkalis (Na or K) which significantly influence the resulting material’s performance. However, the precise role of these alkalis is not fully understood. In this publication, using a combination of X-ray PDF and NMR, we present evidence on the silicate polymerization and the structure of the CNASH gel. Additionally, we also report novel data on the long-range atomic ordering of a series of 45 synthetic gels.

The article can be accessed here.

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Research Funding on Concrete Subject to Neutron Radiation

Long term exposure to neutron radiation can lead to degradation of the concrete which is commonly employed in the structural elements of a nuclear power plant. Understanding and predicting this degradation, which is induced due to residual stresses and internal cracking, is the key to long term operation of the US nuclear fleet.

The group has recently obtained funding from the Department of Energy, Nuclear Energy University Program (DOE NEUP) for a three-year project to closely examine effects of neutron radiation on the microstructure of concrete specimens. The University of Illinois is leading this research project and will be working in close collaboration with the University of Tenessee at Knoxville, Oak Ridge National Lab, and KLA-Tencor. The project duration is from October 2019 to September 2022.

We are looking forward to exciting research in the world of radiation-induced damage.

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New Publication on Clay Dissolution

A new publication titled “Dissolution Kinetics of Calcined Kaolinite and Montmorillonite in Alkaline Conditions: Evidence for Reactive Al(V) Sites” was published in Journal of the American Ceramic Society in July 2019.

Using solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy and Inductively-coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy, we followed the dissolution kinetics of calcined kaolinite and montmorillonite. It was shown that dissolution kinetics are correlated with pozzolanic reactivity and dissolution rates are strongly influenced by the presence of reactive Al(V) sites.

The article can be accessed here.

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PCA Professors’ Workshop 2019

Prof. Garg recently attended the PCA Professors’ Workshop organized by the Portland Cement Association, held at the headquarters of the American Concrete Institute in Detroit, Michigan.

This was an excellent week-long workshop aimed at professors teaching concrete and concrete-related courses in a university setting. Access and exposure to live demos, course materials, pedagogy techniques, student competitions, and case studies introducing complicated phenomena in the concrete world were some of the things that made this workshop extremely useful. Highly recommended for fellow assistant professors!

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10th Anniversary of ACerS Cements Meeting

The 10th Advances in Cement-based Materials meeting sponsored by The American Ceramic Society was held at our Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from June 16-18, 2019. Co-chaired and organized by Prof. Garg and Dr. Matt D’Ambrosia, the meeting had a record attendance of 145+ members.

There were more than 50 posters and approx. 70 oral presentations, the details of which can be seen in the program here. Activities started on 16th June, Sunday, with the tour on Additive Manufacturing led Dr. Peter Stynoski at CERL, IL and an SEM workshop led by Paul Stutzman and Jeffrey Bullard from NIST.

Continue reading “10th Anniversary of ACerS Cements Meeting”

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New Publication on C-S-H

A new publication titled “Symmetry-Induced Stability in Alkali-Doped Calcium Silicate Hydrate” was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C in May 2019.

Using first-principles quantum chemistry calculations on the model crystalline phase clinotobermorite, it was shown that there is a strong interplay between the thermodynamic stability of alkali-doped C-S-H and the symmetry of the alkali atoms in the structure. The article can be accessed here.