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In this paper we investigate both capillary water imbibition and the sorptivity of aerated gypsum plaster, and how these sorption characteristics are related to the pore structure of the material. These characteristics are examined by monitoring mass change using the conventional gravimetric method and by obtaining water content profiles using non-destructive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques during capillary imbibition of water. Here, three different gypsum samples are investigated: one non-aerated reference gypsum sample and two aerated gypsum samples produced with different volumetric air fractions. The capillary water absorption into the reference sample follows t 1/2 kinetics (Fickian diffusion), where t is the time of ingress. However, in the aerated gypsum samples there are deviations from t 1/2 kinetics. The MRI results show unambiguously that two wetting fronts advance through the aerated structure; an observation that cannot be made from the gravimetric data alone. The water content profiles of the aerated gypsum samples are therefore analysed by treating them as the sum of two separate absorption processes using sharp front analysis. The capillary water absorption properties of this material are well described as a parallel combination of fast absorption into fine matrix pores and slow absorption into a modified structure of matrix pores inter-connected to air voids introduced into the slurry by aeration.

We investigate the connectivity between aeration voids (radius 200–300 µm) and pores (radius 20 µm) in aerated gypsum plaster using two-dimensional (2D) nuclear magnetic resonance T 2–T 2 relaxation time exchange experiments. These measurements provide an estimate of diffusive exchange rates for water molecules moving between environments differentiated by relaxation time. Aerated gypsum is a lightweight material manufactured by the inclusion of voids to reduce the bulk density. Such materials exhibit a multi-modal distribution of pore and void sizes and are associated with novel water imbibition processes. Here, we use T 2–T 2 exchange experiments to characterize the extent of fluid communication between the voids and pores to better understand the structure–transport relationships in these systems. In turn, this will aid the design of gypsum plasters with improved physical and mechanical properties. Utilizing an analytical model based on diffusion-driven exchange, we extract exchange times and hence diffusive length-scales, which are equivalent to the pore diameter. Overall, we conclude that the voids and pores are well connected. This confirms our previous hypothesis that water uptake occurs via capillary-driven imbibition through a continuum of voids and pores in aerated gypsum.