The selected strain was within the linear viscoelastic regime (LVR) of the C 3 A pastes. Figure illustrates two examples, showing the evolution of storage and loss moduli for C 3 A hydrating in pure water (Ref, black) and with sodium sulfate (2000 µmol g -1 , blue). In both systems, representing our study's highest and lowest initial storage moduli, the storage modulus measurements consistently exceeded the loss modulus throughout the experiments. The loss factor, i.e., the G ′′ /G ′ ratio, remained below 1 for all samples (Supporting Information Figure ), suggesting that the samples' elastic behavior was dominant.