Structure and Performance of Cements, co-edited by John Bensted (Chair of the SCI Construction Materials Group and Committee Member of the SCI London Regional Group, and Visiting Professor/Consultant in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Materials Chemistry Centre at UCL) and Paul Barnes (Professor in the School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College London), appeared in 2002 and was published by Spon Press (now part of the Taylor & Francis Group). This tome was very well received in cement and concrete circles and received excellent reviews in journals like the American Concrete Institute Journal, Cement and Concrete Research and the Indian Concrete Journal. A multinational team of world-class authors had produced a mass of very topical international information from their vast wealth of experience.
The Taylor & Francis Group received a request from the Chinese authorities some three years ago to publish a Chinese language version of the second edition of Structure and Performance of Cements. This appears to have been the first time that a UK publishing house (like Taylor & Francis) has received such a request in this subject area. Facilitation in China was carried out by their Fund for Foreign Books of Excellence on Science and Technology and has been published recently by Chemical Industry Press based in Beijing. This first print run has been for 4000 copies of the book, with options for up to as many as 20 000 copies in toto should demand dictate in the future. Clearly there is much interest in China on cement and concrete matters.
The current importance of cement and concrete in building is reflected in this particular book. Topics covered include cement production, mineralogy and hydration, plus mechanical properties of cement, and the corrosion and durability of cementitious systems. Special cements like oilwell, decorative and chemical cements are also included, along with consideration of the role of gypsum in cements. New and improved instrumental methods for examining structural aspects and performance in cements are described too.
John Bensted is actively involved with the Centre for CO2 Technology, led by Professor Stefaan Simons, within the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL, where he deals with cement and concrete problems that often involve greening issues. He has had over 40 years experience of the cement and oil industries at the cutting edge of technology. This, together with much technical troubleshooting internationally, has often led to the creation of important research projects involving added industrial value and John has produced over 400 refereed publications and presentations concerning cement and concrete. He has in addition been senior author of the two-volume High Temperature High Pressure Well Cementing Manual, issued by the Royal Dutch Shell Group in 2000, for use globally in its exploration and production operations.
Visit Blog