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Setting and Hardening: Cement Types
Setting and Hardening: Cement Types
Setting and Hardening: Cement Types
Cement sets when mixed with water by way of a complex series of chemical reactions still only
partly understood. The different constituents slowly crystallise and the interlocking of their
crystals gives cement its strength. Carbon dioxide is slowly absorbed to convert the portlandite
(Ca(OH)2) into insoluble calcium carbonate. After the initial setting, immersion in warm water
will speed up setting. In Portland cement, gypsum is added as a compound preventing cement
flash setting.
Cement Types
The basic characteristic of cement is that after it has been mixed with water, it
will set hard as rock, and will bind together any rock or mineral fragments mixed
into it. Mortar is made from a mixture of sand and cement, and bonds together
bricks in a wall. Most cement is mixed with both sand and aggregate to make
concrete.
It seems that the Romans knew about cement, but the technique was lost until
Smeaton built the Eddystone Lighthouse in 1756, using a mixture of fired ground
limestone and clay. Cement was patented by John Aspdin in 1824 as Portland
cement because he though it looked rather like limestone from Portland, which
was used a lot in buildings. This type of cement is used a lot today, and is still
known as OPC (ordinary Portland cement).
Silica (SiO2)
Alumina (Al2O3)
All of these ingredients can be assembled by mixing limestone and shale. After
grinding them together, they are fired in a kiln to about 1400°C. Water is given
off first, showing that the shale is decomposing, and then CO 2, when the
limestone starts to decompose. The other materials react to produce cement
clinker.
These new hydrated minerals form slowly, and the cement needs to be kept
moist while this is occurring. Portland cement starts to harden a few hours after
mixing, because the hydrated tricalcium aluminate grows rapidly. Cement doesn’t
start to become strong until some days later when the hydrated tricalcium silicate
forms. It reaches 70% of full strength after about a month, and doesn’t reach full
strength until several years later because the dicalcium silicate hydrates so
slowly. This reaction is non-reversible.
Case Study
Uses of cement
Mortar for bonding bricks is made up of 1 part by volume of cement powder with
3 to 6 parts of sand, and the minimum of water to make the mix workable.
Cement and sand can also be used to produce a thin skin or render, to protect
the outside of the buildings. The most important use of cement is in making
concrete, where it is used to stick together a mixture of sand and rock fragments,
i.e. aggregate.