2026 Della Roy Lecturer
Dr. Robert J. Flatt
Robert J. Flatt is Professor for Physical Chemistry of Building Materials at ETH Zürich since 2010. His main research topic is the working mechanisms of chemical admixtures, in particular for reducing the environmental footprint of concrete. This feeds into research on digital fabrication with concrete, which is developed within the Swiss National Competence Centre on Digital Fabrication in Architecture. Another topic of central interest for him is material science for the preservation of stone in built cultural heritage. On this front his group is advancing Heritage++, a spatial computing platform facilitating interdisciplinary exchanges and spatial contextualizing of data, in particular for stone deterioration.
Lessons from Ceramics in Cement Research
Ceramics and cements share many common features. Both are prepared as suspensions mixing water and ground mineral powders. This leaves both domains with complex problems about the rheology of particulate suspensions, including questions of dispersion, particle shape and packing. Beyond this, they also share common questions about drying shrinkage and characterization of mechanical properties.
Such connections have been a source of inspiration for much of my research on cementitious materials. So, it seems very appropriate to discuss this connection between ceramics and cements for this Della Roy lecture at the Cements Division of the American Ceramic Society.
After trying to establish that panorama, I will develop some of cement-specific questions that are intimately tied to cement’s reactivity. They make these systems much more challenging to understand but also more exciting to study. While delving into those systems, it is to remember that in the “parent field” of ceramics, many lessons are learned by manipulating systems. How can this be done in cement? Which questions can we get enough grasp on in research and which topics should we better leave to industry? These are some of the questions that I hope to conclude the talk with.