UNIVERSITY OF DUHOK

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CIVIL DEPARTMENT
CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY –PRACTICAL
CONCRETE LABORATORY

A REPORT ABOUT

“Compressive Strength of Hydraulic Cement Mortar”

SUBMITTED BY: Barozh Khalid Jawher

LAB. NO. #5

GROUP : B

TESTING DATE: 27- October

SUBMITTING DATE: 14 - November

2021-2022
References:

1. ASTM C109-07
2. ASTM C305-99

Introduction:

The compressive strength of hardened cement is the most important of all the
properties. Compressive strength of mortar is measuring the maximum load that can
be applied to it under specified conditions. The cement is always tested for its strength
at the laboratory before the cement is used in important works.

1|Page
Purpose:

This test method provides a means of determining the compressive strength of

hydraulic cement mortars and results may be used to determine compliance with
specifications.

Materials:

1. Potable water.
2. OPC.
3. Local sand [similar to Ottawa sand, sized between sieves No.20 (850 micron) and
sieve No.30 (600 micron) ]

Equipment:

1. Sensitive balance,
2. Graduate cylinder,
3. Standard molds of (5×5) cm (2×2 ) dimension,
4. Mechanical Mixer,
5. Testing machine,
6. Small trowel,
7. Rubber or Wooden Tamper,
8. Brush,
9. Coating release agents (oils, or greases),
10. Sieves No.20 and No.30, and
11. Hand covers (plastic gloves).

2|Page
Sketches:

Standard mold Testing machine

Local sand Graduate Cylinder

3|Page
Balance Cement

Trowel

4|Page
 Procedures:

1) The proportion of material for the standard mortal shall be one part of cement to
2.75 parts of graded standard sand by weight . Use a water-cement ratio of 0.485
for all Portland cement. Thus, the amount of materials required to produce one set
of three cubes are (400 grams of Portland cement) (1100 gram Ottawa sand) and
(194 cc of water).
2) Place the 194 cc of water in mixing bowl, add the 500 grams of cement and mix at
a slow speed for 30 seconds.
3) Add the 110 grams of Ottawa sand over a 30 second period while continuing to a
mix at a slow speed
4) Stop mixing; change the mixer setting to medium speed (285 ±5 rpm) and mix for
30 seconds.
5) Stop the mixer and let the mortar stand for 90 sec. during the first 15 second.
Scrape down into the batch any mortar that may have collected on the side of the
bowl. Cover the bowl for the remained of the interval.
6) Finish preparing the mortar by mixing for 60 second at medium speed.
7) Immediately upon completion of mixing, start molding specimen by placing a 25±
mm (1±in) layer of mortar in all of the tree cube compartment, tamp the mortar
layer in each cube compartment with the rubber tamper 32 times within about 10
second in accordance with figure (1) in four rounds. Each round to be at right
angles to other and consisting of eight adjacent strokes over the surface of the
specimen. Use sufficient tamping pressure to endure uniform filling of the mold.
Complete the lift in each mold in turn before moving on the next one.
8) Complete the filling of the mold by adding another layer and duplicate the tamping
procedure. At this point the mortar should be slightly above the top of the molds.
Carefully cut the excess mortar flush with the edge of a steel trowel.
9) Place the completed mortar cubes in a moist closet, protected from dripping water
for 20 to 24 hours after which the cubes are to be stripped from the molds.
10) Insert mortar cubes in water bath until ready for testing.
11) All specimens should be tested within a specified time period:

5|Page
Test age permissible time tolerance:

24 hour ± 1/2hour

3day ±1hour

7days±3hour

28days±12hours

Figure (1)

6|Page
Results:

Compressive strength of the cubes is calculated as follows:

P(N )
Compressive strength = A (m m2 )

*used in the test, an amount of Cement: 400g, sand: 1100g, water: 194g

Area of cube: A = 50*50 mm²

Table (1)

Rate of specime Specimen

Sampl loadin n Compressi
Failure Remar
e g cross- ve
load(N) ks
No (KN/se section strength
c) (mm2) (MPa)
109.8×10^
1 2500 43.63
2
107.15×10
2 2500 42.86
^3
102.27×10
3 2500 40.9
^4
107.6×10^
4 2500 43
5
1.4 KN  
108.7×10^
5 2500 43.48
6
102.78×10
6 2500 41.11
^7
114.68×10
7 2500 45.87
^8
112.35×10
8 2500 44.94
^9

7|Page
8|Page
Table (2): Iraqi specification for type-I 41N cement

Age (days) Compressive strength (MPa)

3 16
7 24
28 41

9|Page
Discussion:

In this test we obtained the seven-days-strength of mortar cement cubes and we got an
average compressive strength between (40-45)Mpa for the six tested cubes. According
to Iraqi specifications, the cement must have a minimum strength 24MPa in the first 7
days of made. Our tested cubes however, did comply with the Iraqi specs. Which
means our cement success and is good for use. And this may be due to many factors
including good made in the experiment in mixing and proportioning the materials, also
other factors such as shape and size of specimens, rate of application load, moister
content in the tested specimen and the materials used.

The cement is always tested for its strength at the laboratory before it is used in
important and big projects and works. These strength tests are not made on neat
cement paste because of difficulties of excessive shrinkage and subsequent cracking of
neat cement.

Conclusions:

This test proved that the cement is not just accepted but it is also perfect cement
because we got Average compressive strength 43.22 Mpa in just 7 days.

10 | P a g e