Materials and Structures 2024 Outstanding Papers

Since 2016, RILEM has annually recognized the most outstanding papers published in Materials and Structures. Each year, ten papers are selected by the journal's Board of Editors for their excellence and contribution to the scientific community, representing the full spectrum of RILEM activities.

Congratulations to all the authors of the 2024 Outstanding Papers! These manuscripts will be available in Open Access in the coming weeks. Enjoy your reading!

• Characterisation, activation, and reactivity of heterogenous natural clays, Amrita Hazarika, Liming Huang & Arezou Babaahmadi

• Report of RILEM TC 281-CCC: A critical review of the standardised testing methods to determine carbonation resistance of concrete, Susan A. Bernal et al.

• Exploring physical hardening in bitumen based on 4 mm DSR measurements, Haopeng Zhang et al.

• Chloride-induced corrosion of steel in concrete—insights from bimodal neutron and X-ray microtomography combined with ex-situ microscopy, Ueli M. Angst et al.

• Water vapour permeability of inorganic construction materials, Christopher Hall, Gloria J. Lo, Andrea Hamilton

• Acid attack on hydrated cement: effect of organic acids on the degradation process, H. Hilbig, T. Gutberlet & R. E. Beddoe

• Parametric study on the decarbonization potential of structural system and concrete mix design choices for mid-rise concrete buildings, Hisham Hafez et al.

• Verification of the presence of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) in fresh concrete: results of an interlaboratory study of RILEM TC 260-RSC, Mateusz Wyrzykowski et al.

• Rehabilitating instead of rebuilding aged or damaged pre‑fabricated concrete buildings for reducing CO2 emissions: the case of Ukraine, Viacheslav Troian, Volodymyr Gots, Robert J. Flatt, Ueli Angst

• Improving mechanical properties and sustainability of high‑strength engineered cementitious composites (ECC) using diatomite, Xuezhen Zhu, Minghu Zhang, Jinyan Shi, Yiwei Weng, Çağlar Yalçınkaya, Branko Šavija