CEMENT

Comparison between Taiwan Cement & Chinese Cement

1. Physical Properties

Taiwan Taiwan
Characteristics   Specification   China
(Lafarge) (Kolos)
Strength Class 42.5N 42.5 52.5N
1. Fineness   BS EN 196-6      
  Specific Surface m2kg-1     - 351 360 339
2. Setting time   BS EN 196-3      
  Initial Setting Time     minimum 60 1hr 55 mins 1hr 50 mins 2hr 25 mins

  Final Setting Time       - 3hr 15 mins 2hr 55 mins 2hr 50 mins

3. Soundness mm BS EN 196-3   ≤ 10 1.2 1.0 1.0

4. Density gcm-3 ASTM C188   -  -  -  3.14
5. Compressive Strength (N/mm2)        
  2 days     ≥ 10 25.2 24.8 23.4
  7 days     - 45 (est) 45.4 49.4
  28 days       42.5 ≤ x ≤ 62.5 56 (est) 57.0 62.2

Note: Compressive strength for Chinese Cement also satisfies requirements for cement 52.5N.

2. Chemical Properties

Taiwan Taiwan
Characteristics   Specification   China
(Lafarge) (Kolos)
1. Residue insoluble in hydrochloric        
  and sodium carbonate, %       ≤ 5.0 0.5 0.88 0.96
2. Sulfate content, %      
  (expressed as SO3)       ≤ 3.5 2.65 2.55 2.39
3. Loss on ignition, %       ≤ 5.0 1.71 1.32 2.5
4. Chloride content, %       ≤ 1.0 0.01 0.01 0.002
Composition

Taiwan Taiwan
Characteristics Requirements China
(Lafarge) (Kolos)
1. Silicon Dioxide (SiO2), %   - 20.14 20.47 21.23
2. Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3), %   - 5.02 4.83 4.74
3. Ferric Oxide (Fe2O3), % - 3.25 3.14 3.68
4. Calcium Oxide (CaO), % - 61.91 61.61 64.17

CONCRETE

1. Slump Monitoring

Duration of
Taiwan Taiwan
concrete Chinese
(Lafarge) (Kolos)
(mins)
T0 150 150 155
T30 140 145
Slump / mm

T60 120 135

T90 105 120 125
T120 105 125
T150 85 110
T180 75 95

Remarks:

 Chinese cement is compatible with admixture Chryso RCS 800.

2. Concrete Mix Design

 Compared to Taiwan Cement, Chinese cement only requires an increase of 2-3 % in fine
aggregate content in order to produce concrete of similar consistency.
 This could be related to the difference in fineness of the cement.
 3. Temperature Monitoring

Taiwan (Lafarge) Taiwan (Kolos) Chinese

Concrete Water Difference Concrete Water Difference Concrete Water Difference

T0 29.5 30.5 1.0 25.1 26.6 1.5

Temperature / Degrees

T30 30.1 31.5 1.4 25.1 26.4 1.3

T60 30.2 31.5 1.3 25.4 25.6 0.2
T90 30.1 31.5 1.4 26.1 26.4 0.3
T120 30.5 31.4 0.9 26.4 26.7 0.3
T150 30.1 31.5 1.4 26.2 27.0 0.8
T180 30.4 31.5 1.1 25.9 26.0 0.1
T210 25.3 26.2 0.9
T240 25.3 26.4 1.1

Remarks:

 From temperature monitoring, no significant heat generation has been observed.

 Concrete temperature generally varies between 2 to 3 degrees greater than ambient
temperature.

4. Compressive strength

Lafarg China
Kolos China Taiwan Kolos
e

Grade 25 Grade 30
1 day 6 6 8 8 8 10
Compressiv 3 days 14 13 18 19 17 22
e strength 7 days 20 19 23 27 26 31
(MPa) 28 days 31 30 37 42 40 45

Remarks:

 Compressive strength results for Chinese cement are based on a small sample number
compared to Taiwan Cement.
 From the above results, it can be concluded that Chinese cement exhibit greater concrete
strength than Taiwan cement.
5. Concrete casting
 A positive response was obtained from casting teams. Chinese cement concrete was
reported to be of similar consistency and pumpability.
 Some slabs were casted and observations made were positive.