First Seconds in a Building’s Life—In Situ Synchrotron X‐Ray Diffraction Study of Cement Hydration on the Millisecond Timescale

Setting cement: highly dynamic hydration processes that occur during the first seconds of cement hydration were studied by time-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Polycarboxylate ether additives were found to influence the formation of the initial crystalline hydration products on a molecular level.