Jeffrey J. Thomas

Research Associate Professor

A220 Technological Institute
2145 Sheridan Rd. Evanston, IL 60208-3109

E-mail address: jthomas@northwestern.edu
Phone: (847) 491-4997
Fax: 011(847) 491-4997

Curriculum Vitae:

Education

• B.S., Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University
• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University

Research

Prof. Thomas' research area is the chemistry, microstructure, and hydration kinetics of cement-based materials. He is particularly interested in the calcium-silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gel, which is the main binding phase in Portland cement, and is thus responsible for the strength and durability of concrete. C-S-H is much studied because of its importance in determining the performance of concrete structures and because its structure, composition, and morphology are all complex and variable. Prof. Thomas is a leader in the application of scattering techniques such as small-angle neutron and x-ray scattering (SANS and SAXS) quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) and neutron spectroscopy to the study of cement-based materials. He also studies the kinetics of the reactions between cement and water, in particular the nucleation and growth process that leads to early strength development and concrete setting. Prof. Thomas is also developing a new type of cement-based material for security walls called “Safety Concrete” that will fragment into tiny pieces when subjected to an explosion, minimizing collateral damage to surrounding buildings and people.

Teaching Activities

• CIV_ENG 216 Mechanics of Materials
• GEN_ENG 205-2 Engineering Analysis II
• GEN_ENG 206-2 Honors Engineering Analysis II
• CEE_212 Mechanics

Honors and Awards

2008 Brunauer Award (Best paper published by the American Ceramic  Society in the area of cements)

Selected Publications

Click here for papers in pdf format

• “Composition and density of nanoscale calcium-silicate-hydrate in cement” (A.J. Allen, J.J. Thomas, H.M. Jennings) Nature Materials 6[4] , pp. 311-316 (2007).
• “A new approach to modeling the nucleation and growth kinetics of tricalcium silicate hydrationâ” (J.J. Thomas) Journal of the American Ceramic Society 90 , pp. 3282-3288 (2007).
• “Analysis of cement paste and C-S-H gel by small-angle neutron scattering” (A.J. Allen, J.J. Thomas) Cement and Concrete Research 37 , pp. 319-324 (2007).
• “A multi-technique investigation of the nanoporosity of cement paste” (H.M. Jennings, J.J. Thomas, J.S. Gevrenov, G. Constantinides, F.-J. Ulm ) Cement and Concrete Research 37 , pp. 329-336 (2007).
• “Decalcification shrinkage of cement paste” (J.J. Chen, J.J. Thomas, H.M. Jennings) Cement and Concrete Research 36 , pp. 801-809 (2006).
• “A colloidal interpretation of chemical aging of the C-S-H gel and its effects on the properties of cement paste” (J.J. Thomas, H.M. Jennings) Cement and Concrete Research 36 , pp. 30-38 (2006).
• “Effects of decalcification on the microstructure and surface area of cement and tricalcium silicate pastes” (J.J. Thomas, J.J. Chen, A.J. Allen, H.M. Jennings) Cement and Concrete Research 34 , pp. 2297-2307 (2004).