ASTM International

Gypsum: Connecting Science and Technology
 N MNL67

Annotation

Preface

The purpose of this manuscript is to close a perceived gap between the academic and applied aspects of gypsum science and technology since a textbook covering these subjects is not available. Moreover, academic publications seem to deal with relatively narrow subjects and are concerned with cataloguing research results with little applied interpretation. In contrast, the practical literature is dispersed over a wide range of sources and gives the distinct impression of being unfocused. It is hoped that closing this gap will help to solve problems or to clarify situations that technologists and engineers may encounter and that may not necessarily be well understood.

Therefore, it is the intention to interpret the essential literature on gypsum and to place the information provided into its proper context. To achieve this, the characteristic properties of gypsum and cementitious materials derived from it have been discussed in terms of their strength and weaknesses, taking into consideration both historical and modern points of view. In any case, this manuscript is written in a manner which should make it acceptable and accessible not only to a specific audience but also to others generally interested in this subject.

An equally important reason for preparing this manuscript is the fact that misconceptions continue to resurface on key issues and these are unusually persistent. They touch on all categories from ancient history to modern properties such as dehydration, -hemihydrate formation, water demand, aging and disintegration, rehydration and setting, as well as physical characteristics such as strength and gypsum board nail pull resistance. This has been the case since the time of Lavoisier and Le Chatelier in the 18th and 19th century, who first dealt with the dehydration and rehydration of gypsum in a modern scientific manner. A contributing factor has been the recent replacement of scientific research with current issues. Process research has become a most diluted and misquoted phrase. To a degree, the decline of gypsum research reflects the shift from gypsum plaster applied in the field to the manufacture of gypsum board in plants.