section_path: Composition/Curing
section_name: Curing
paragraph_text: Curing
  
  Combining water with a cementitious material forms a cement paste by the process of hydration. The cement paste glues the aggregate together, fills voids within it, and makes it flow more freely.
  
  As stated by Abrams' law, a lower water-to-cement ratio yields a stronger, more durable concrete, whereas more water gives a freer-flowing concrete with a higher slump. The hydration of cement involves many concurrent reactions. The process involves polymerization, the interlinking of the silicates and aluminate components as well as their bonding to sand and gravel particles to form a solid mass. One illustrative conversion is the hydration of tricalcium silicate:
  
  The hydration (curing) of cement is irreversible.