Book excerpt: Measuring the long-term durability of new types of concrete and concrete technologies is crucial to their acceptance in the marketplace. This long-needed handbook of analytical techniques provides a complete reference to the cutting-edge procedures used to test today's innovative materials. Ranging from chemical and thermal analysis, to IR and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, to Scanning Electron Microscopy, x-ray diffraction, computer modeling and more, the book provides first-hand explanations of modern methodsùcontributed by 24 leading scientists, many of whom actually developed or refined the techniques. The book includes many analytic techniques, applied to a wide range of organic, inorganic and composite materials and additives.Perfect for practitioners, students, and professional standards writers, the handbook is highly useful for scrutinizing materials in a variety of environments. It takes into account the many factors that affect the qualities of concreteùtemperature, pore and pore-size distribution, surface area, and exposureùgathering diverse evaluation methods into one convenient resource.