Construction

Materials and Testing

 CEMENT
Cement and concrete might
be synonymous as household
terms, but are by nature
different

Cement, an ultrafine gray

powder, binds sand and
rocks into a matrix of
concrete.
Assyrians and Babylonians used clay
for this purpose, and the Egyptians
advanced to the discovery of lime
and gypsum mortar as a binding
agent for building such structures as
the Pyramids.

The Greeks made further

improvements and finally the
Romans developed cement that
produced structures of remarkable
durability.
Natural cement was produced by
burning a naturally occurring mixture of
lime and clay.
HYDRAULIC CEMENT
•
A cement which possesses
the property of hardening
in combination with water.
Types of hydraulic cement:

Portland cement
Pozzolan
 PORTLAND CEMENT
It is the product obtained by pulverizing
clinker consisting of hydraulic calcium
silicates to which some calcium sulfate has
usually been provided as an interground
addition.
The density of Portland cement particles is
about 3.15Mg/cu.m.
Who is Joseph Aspdin?
In 1824, Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer and
mason in Leeds, England, took out a patent
on hydraulic cement that he called Portland
cement because its hydration product
resembled a building stone quarried on the
Isle of Portland off the British coast. Aspdin's
method involved the careful proportioning of
limestone and clay, pulverizing them, and
burning the mixture into clinker, which was
then ground into finished cement.
Main Constituents in a
Typical Portland
Cement

Tricalcium silicate (C3S). Hydrates

and hardens rapidly and is largely
responsible for initial set and
early strength. Portland cements
with higher percentages of C3S
will exhibit higher early strength.
Main Constituents in a
Typical Portland
Cement

• Dicalcium silicate
(C2S). Hydrates and hardens
slowly and is largely
responsible for strength
increases beyond one week.
 Main Constituents in a
Typical Portland
Cement

Tricalcium aluminate (C3A). Hydrates

and hardens the quickest. Liberates a
large amount of heat almost immediately
and contributes somewhat to early
strength. Gypsum is added to portland
cement to retard hydration. Without
gypsum, hydration would cause portland
cement to set almost immediately after
adding water.
GYPSUM LIME
Main Constituents in a
Typical Portland
Cement

Tetracalcium aluminoferrite
(C4AF). Hydrates rapidly but
contributes very little to
strength. Its use allows lower
kiln temperatures in portland
cement manufacturing. Most
portland cement color effects
are due to C4AF.
What causes hardening of
HYDRAULIC CEMENT?
When Portland cement is mixed with
water its chemical compound
constituents undergo a series of chemical
reactions that cause it to harden (or set)
which is called HYDRATION. These
chemical reactions all involve the addition
of water to the basic chemical
compounds.
What was the earliest use of Portland
Cement?
The first use of Portland cement was in
mortars. It was but a short step from its
use exclusively in mortar for stone
masonry to its use with stones broken
into small fragments and mixed with
mortar in concrete.
 CODES AND SPECIFICATIONS
• NSCP – National Structural Code of the Philippines
• ASTM – American Society of Testing and Materials
• AISC – American Institute of Steel Construction
• ACI – American Concrete Institute
• AREA – American Railway Engineering Association
• AASHTO – American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials
• AWS – American Welded Society
• ASEP – Association of Structural Engineers of the
Philippines
STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS FOR CEMENT
ASTM C150 – Standard Specification for
Portland Cement.
It provides 5 types of Portland Cement.
 5 Types of Portland Cement
Type I - Ordinary Portland Cement
General-purpose cement
suitable for most purposes.

Type II - Moderate Heat Cement / Moderate Sulfate

Resistance
- The cement possesses moderate
resistance to sulfate attack because of
certain limitations on composition.
If moderate heat of hydration is desired, however, the
optional limit on heat of hydration should be invoked
when specifying or ordering.
 5 Types of Portland Cement
Type III - High Early Strength Portland Cement
Used when high early strength is needed. It is often produced by
grinding Type I clinker finer or by altering the chemical
composition of cement. Strength gain is double that of Type I
cement in the first 24 hours.
Type IV - Low Heat Portland Cement / Moderate Sulfate Resistance
- Used when hydration heat must be minimized in large volume
applications such as gravity dams.
Type V - High Sulfate Resistance
- Used as a precaution against severe sulfate action - principally
where soils or groundwaters have high sulfate content. It gains
strength at a slower rate than Type I cement.
In addition, portland cement can also be
specified under ASTM C1157 (Standard
Performance Specification for Hydraulic Cement)
Type GU – General Use
Type HE – High Early strength
Type MS – Moderate Sulfate Resistance
Type HS – High Sulfate Resistance
Type MH – Moderate Heat of Hydration
Type LH – Low Heat of Hydration
POZZOLAN
Pozzolan – a siliceous and aluminous
material in finely divided form react with
calcium hydroxide at ordinary
temperatures to form compounds having
cementitious properties.
There are both natural and artificial
pozzolan.
What does POZZOLAN do in
concrete?
As the definition implies, a pozzolan
combines with calcium hydroxide to form
calcium silicate similar to that produced
by hydration of portland cement.

Most of the other pozzolans decrease the

water demand.
Pozzolans reduce bleeding because of
fineness, reduce the maximum rise in
temperature when used in large
amounts(more than 15%) by mass of
cementitious material) because of the
slower rate of chemical reactions which
reduce the rise in temperature.
 BLEEDING
Apperance of water on the surface of the
concrete after it has consolidated but
before it is set.
 CAUSES
1. Lack of fines
2. Too much water content in the mix
 PROBLEMS
• 1. Delays the finishing operation
• 2. High water cement ratio
• 3. Poor bond between layers
• 4. Poor pump ability
 SOLUTIONS
• 1. More fines by using pozzolan
• 2. Adjust grading of aggregates
• 3. Introduce Entrained Air
• 4. Reduce water content
 Entrained Air
• Creation of tiny air bubbles in concrete

The bubbles are introduced into the concrete

by the addition to the mix of an air
entraining agent.

To increase the durability of the hardened

concrete and also increases the workability
of the concrete while in the plastic state.
 Pozzolan can be classified into 2:
• 1. Natural Pozzolan – a raw material that is
found in natural deposits
• 2. Fly Ash – byproduct from burning
pulverized coal in electric power
generating plants. It is collected from the
exhaust gases. As the fused material rises,
it cools and solidifies into spherical glassy
particles.
• Specifications: ASTM C618 (classification
of Class C and class F)
 Fly Ash
• Class C – has a high lime content and is
self cementing. Used for soil stabilization
of road bases. Used for clay subgrade
improvement as road subgrade material.
Used at dosages of 15-25 % by mass of
cementitious material.

• Class F - has little lime and is purely

pozzolanic. Used as dosages of 15-50% by
mass.
 Blended Cement
• ASTM C595 – provides prescriptive
based specifications for specific
blended cements that consist of
Portland cement clinker ground or
blended with suitable proportions of
GGBFS ( Ground Granulated Blast
Furnace Slag or natural or artificial
pozzolan)
• These include the Portland pozzolan
cement, Portland blast furnace slag and
slag cement.
 GGBFS
- obtained by quenching molten iron slag
from a blast furnace in water or steam, to
produce a glassy, granular product that is
then dried and ground into a fine powder.

Used as a replacement of Portland cement in

amounts typically between 25 and 70% of
the total mass of cementitious material.
 CONSISTENCY
-relative mobility or ability of freshly
mixed cement to flow. It includes the
entire range of fluidity from the driest to
the wettest possible mixtures.
• PLASTIC CONSISTENCY
Indicates a condition where applied
stress will result in continuous
deformation without rupture. A plastic
mixture possesses cohesion and does
not crumble. It flows sluggishly and
without segregation.
• WORKABILITY
The property of freshly mixed concrete
that determines the ease with which it
can be mixed, placed, consolidated and
finished to a homogeneous condition.
 SETTING OF CEMENT
The paste formed when
cement is mixed with water
remains plastic for not a very
long time, it stiffens and sets.
SETTING TIME
Describes the stiffening of fresh cement
paste. Onset of rigidity occurs.
 SETTING PROCESS
• INITIAL SETTING
• FINAL SETTING
INITIAL SETTING
• Before the time of setting, it is possible
to disturb the concrete and remix it
without injury. Later revibration can be
beneficial, but as the reactions
between the cement and water
continue, the mass loses its plasticity.
FINAL SETTING TIME
• Hardening begins, which indicates that
a useful and measurable strength is
developing.

Setting and hardening result from

continuing reaction between the
cementitious material and water.
SETTING TIME MEASURED
- Use of gillmore needles
- Use of Vicat Apparatus
Factors affecting the time of setting
• - cement composition
• - water cement ratio
• - temperature
• - admixture
When the cement hydrates faster, the time
of setting is reduced. Time of setting
decreases as the temperature increases.
Admixture increases or decreases depending
on the type.