Additionally, several aspects need to be considered as well, such as the differences between the heating method used in the TGA furnaces and the ones in industrial process (i.e., heating from all sides or unidirectionally, using a gas burner or even microwaves), the size effects and the kinetics impact on the drying behavior. One option that offers more information is by using sensors for the measurement of temperature and pressure evolution inside prismatic samples during unidirectional heating5,6, such test is also known as PTM (pressure, temperature and mass measurement). This method was initially developed for studying regular Portland cement concrete under fire accidents2 and it can be used to calibrate or even validate numerical models5. However, Dauti et al. 7 demonstrated, with the help of neutron tomography, that even very thin (0.25 mm in diameter) thermocouples are able to capture and stabilize air bubbles around themselves, when they are embedded in ceramic samples. Consequently, a large variation of pressure values is usually obtained during the measurements carried out with PTM tests, as reported in the literature7. The presence of sensors effectively changes the ceramic microstructure and the resulting collected data may not be representative of an unaltered material. Direct imaging techniques became recently very promising, both for studying refractory and Portland cement concrete3. The most common techniques are the X-ray and neutron tomography, ground penetrating radar (GPR), or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), each technique displaying a different set of advantages and drawbacks inherent from the very nature of these methods. Non-intrusive methods which don’t rely on sensors such as neutron and X-ray tomography share the same principle. A beam of particles (in the case of neutrons) or electromagnetic waves (in the case of X-ray or ground penetrating radar) is directed towards the sample. Regions rich in water will interact differently from those that are dry and the resulting signal will reflect such differences. Using multiple images obtained at a set of different angles (for the X-ray and neutron tomography) one can create images of the whole volume with the aid of a reconstruction algorithm. In the case of neutrons, this interaction is based on the scattering of neutrons by the hydrogen atoms comprising the water molecules8. The X-ray beam, on the other hand, interacts with the electrons of the atoms and, consequently, its capacity to differentiate between regions rich or poor in water is less efficient than the neutron tomography technique8 (see Fig. 2 (d)). Meanwhile, the ground penetrating radar approach relies on the fact that the electromagnetic waves propagating in a medium are reflected and scattered when a sudden change in electrical properties is found (which occurs when water is present). This approach is more feasible even for bigger samples than the ones used in the tomography- based techniques These three techniques have in common the fact that the only information available is the relative change in water concentration at a given position. On the other hand, nuclear magnetic resonance, which is based on the relaxation time of the nucleus of the hydrogen, can provide information on the configuration of the water molecules9 (i.e., if they are on small or big pores). This comes at the expense of the capability of reconstructing the whole 3D domain. Also, although possible10, simultaneous drying and NMR analysis is challenging and prone to inaccuracies, as the heating elements