Name: Nerissa Rajkumar

Student Number: 219003070

Date: 13 and 20 April

Module: APCH312

Practical Day: Tuesday

Practical Number and Name: 3, Cement Strength and

Setting

2021
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 Contents Page

Aim 3
Introduction 3-4
Experimental 4-5
Results 6-8
Discussion 8-9
Conclusion 10
References 10

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AIM(S):

The aim of this experiment is to qualitatively examine and determine the various components
that may affect the setting properties and building suitability of cement and its incentive as a
retarder, and cement strengthening rate when combined with various reagents.

INTRODUCTION:

Portland cement is the most common cement used around the world 1. There are many types
of Portland cement available however, the most common one is called Ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC) which is a grey powder 1. The most common use for OPC is in the production
of concrete- an important building material 1.

OPC is made by heating limestone, CaCO3, and clay minerals to high temperatures (1450 ̊C)
in a kiln 1. The resulting material called clinker, is grinded after allowed it to cool and about
5% gypsum is added to it 1. Portland cements all contain inorganic salt which aids in
retardation of the set- gypsum is added to the cement in order to stop flash set as well as to
allow enough time to work with the cement 2.

In this experiment different reagents are added to the cement and the properties of the
resulting samples are observed. Many factors may affect the set and strength of cement- this
includes organic and inorganic components 2. These additives are added to the cement to
yield cement of different properties and are used for various purposes e.g., accelerators are
employed to allow cement setting before freezing in colder climates and retarders are used
when samples are being pumped to ensure that the cement does not set before arriving at its
destination 2.

Other factors that affect strength include cement porosity- the more voids there is in the
cement, the weaker the cement will be 3. The most important cause of cement porosity is the
water to cement (w/c) ratio 3. The optimum water to cement ratio, w/c is 0.4- at higher ratios
the cement reacts with water to form cement hydration products and creates pores which are
filled with water or air and thereby weakens the compressive strength 3.

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 Figure 1: Samples of different cements made in the laboratory.

EXPERIMENTAL:

Reagents and Apparatus:

 OPC
 HAC
 Sand
 Water
 2% m/m CaCl2
 Sugar
 2%v/v superplasticiser
 Perspex block mould
 Mass balance
 Plastic bucket

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  Wooden stick
 Weighing boats
 Vaseline
 Nail
 Measuring cylinder

Procedure:

This experiment was done in two parts viz., setting of cement and cement strength. A sample
containing 2% (m/m) CaCl2 (mixture 1) was made by the lab technician prior to the
commencement of the practical session and temperature readings were taken every 15
minutes. Three mixtures containing 50g OPC and 20mL water were made with the addition
of 2.5 g of CaCl2 in mixture 2, ~0.1g sugar in mixture 3 and ~2g sugar in mixture 4. The
mixtures were put into weighing boats used as moulds and the state of set was recorded every
15 minutes. Mixtures 5, 6 and 7 were also made with 50g OPC with different water to cement
(w/c) ratios as follows: 0.25 ,0.45 and 0.75 respectively. Mixture 8 was made following the
same step above with a w/c of 0.25 and an additional reagent that was 2%v/v superplasticiser.

Mixtures 9-12 contained a sand to cement ratio of 4:1 with mixtures 9, 10 and 12 containing
OPC and mixture 11 containing HAC. The w/c ratios were 0.5 for mixture 9 and 11 and 0.7
for mixture 10 and 0.35 for mixture 12. In addition, mixture 12 also contained 2%
superplasticiser and 5% CaCl2. The mixtures 9-12 were put into well-greased (with Vaseline)
Perspex block mould and left to set and harden.

Mixtures 5, 6, 7, and 8 were disposed of at the end of the session.

In week 2, the mortar bars were tested to observe their strength. This was done by
demoulding the bars after a week and placing them between two blocks of wood. A hook and
string were attached to a bucket into which weights of different masses were added until the
cement bars broke under pressure.

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RESULTS:

Figure 2: Temperature of cement mixed with 2% CaCl2 against time/min

Table 1: observations of the different cement mixtures

Mixture: Observations:
2) 50g OPC + 20ml Depth of nail after #minutes:
water + 2.5g CaCl2 0: 8mm- not set
15: 8mm
30: 7mm- beginning to partially set, cracks formed
45: 7mm

After #hours:
24: 3mm depth- sticky top layer
48: 0.5mm- grainy top layer, very hard, light grey

Fully Set after a week, very light grey, white around the edges,
powdery top layer, cracks forming, smooth and solid
3) 50g OPC + 20ml Depth of nail after #minutes:

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water + 0.1g sugar 0: 8mm- not set, aqueous layer visible
15: 7mm
30: 6mm- beginning to partially set
45: 6mm- almost set

After #hours:
24: 2mm depth- almost fully set, springy, rough
48: 1.5mm depth, hardened, dark grey, powdery residue on top
layer

Set fully after a week, uniform grey colour, grainy surface

texture, fully hardened.
4) 50g OPC + 20ml Depth of nail after #minutes:
water + 2g sugar 0: 8mm- not set
15: 7mm
30: 6mm
45: 6mm
60: 5mm- beginning to partially set

After #hours:
24: 2mm depth- almost fully set
48: 0.5mm depth

Found to be fully set after one week-no penetration, whiteish-

grey top layer, very hard

5) 50g OPC (w/c) of Very coarse texture, almost completely dry, sandy stones,
0.25 uneven surface. Not enough water to form a paste. Cement
grains were not fully reacted.
6) 50g OPC (w/c) of Thickened quickly, mud-like, very viscous. It had unreacted
0.45 cement grains because of little water used.
7) 50g OPC (w/c) of Very watery- saturated with water. Two layers formed.
0.75

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 8) 50g OPC (w/c) of Sticky, hard to mix, slightly dough-like, stiff and uneven. The
0.25 + 2% mixture was grainy and powdery.
Superplasticiser

Table 2: Mass readings for mechanical strength test of mortar bars

Mixture number: Failure mass / g:

9 1806.36
10 1821.29
11 3395.88
12 2688.70

DISCUSSION:

The aim of this experiment was to qualitatively examine and determine the various
components that may affect the setting properties and building suitability of cement and its
incentive as a retarder, and cement strengthening rate when combined with various reagents.

The temperature of the cement mixture is seen to have a more or less directly proportional
relationship with time for most of the first day but after a certain amount of time the
temperature is observed to decrease and continues to do so into the next day (Figure 2). This
trend in Figure 2 implies that the reaction is an exothermic reaction with heat being produced
by the heat of hydration and thereafter the reaction reaches equilibrium as the cement starts to
cool and harden. Calcium chloride was used as an accelerator which reduces the time taken
for cement to set. Cement mixtures 2 and 12 which contained CaCl2 proved this as they were
fast setting. However, it was also observed that mixture 12 contained many cracks after
drying and was not very hard- this must be a result of the low w/c of 0.35 and mixture 2 had a
w/c of 0.4 and cracks were only observed after a week. Sugar was used as retarder in
different amounts and altered the setting time -it was found that mixture 3 containing using
0.1g of sugar set quicker than mixture 4 containing 2.0g of sugar. Sugar is seen to increase

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setting time as the more sugar added the time taken to set was increased and therefore sugar
is a retardant. Mixtures 8 and 12 containing superplasticizer are seen to have a faster set- the
superplasticiser was used to control the w/c in mixture 12 with a low 0.35w/c a set was made
possible although cracks were observed which also implies a low strength of the mixture.
Mixture 8 had a very low w/c of 0.25 but the mixture had a dough-like consistency which
would not be possible if not for the presence of the superplasticiser. Mixtures 5, 6 and 7
demonstrated the effect of water on the strength and set of cement and shows how important
the correct w/c is. The mixtures contained w/c of 0.25, 0.45 and 0.70 respectively. It was
observed that too less water made the cement impossible to work with as it was too dry and
too much water made the mixture over saturated with liquid and could not be worked with.
Mixture 6 containing just above optimum w/c had a thick, mud-like consistency which could
be worked with but the strength of the end product would most likely not be very strong as
pores would be formed within the set. (Table 1)

Mortar bars 9 and 11 had the same w/c of 0.5 with the difference being that 9 was made with
OPC and 11 was made with HAC. It was observed that HAC cement has a lower strength
compared to OPC. This was deduced from the fact that the OPC mortar bar carried a lesser
weight of 1806.36g before breaking and it took a much larger mass of 3395.88g before the
HAC mortar bar broke. Cement strength is heavily influenced by the water to cement ratio.
The optimum w/c is 0.4 and above this ratio cement can become porous and therefore
experience a decrease in strength 3. Since the w/c of mixture and 9 and 11 were both above
the preferred ratio it can be said that the mortar bars could have been stronger had the correct
ratio been used. The addition of sand in the mortar bars increased the strength of the cement
and balanced out the w/c, especially for mortar bar 10 which had a w/c of 0.7. Mixture would
have been the weakest since the w/c was so high however it proved to be a strong bar and
supported a mass of 2676g. Sand is a retarder and works well to control the w/c.

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CONCLUSION(S):

The aim of the experiment to investigate the effects of different components on the set and
strength of cement was achieved. HAC was found to have a higher mechanical strength than
OPC. The water to cement ratio was found to have a very big impact on strength and setting-
however this ratio can be controlled by retardants such as sand and superplasticizer.
Accelerators such as CaCl2 and sugar are not ideal and cause a decrease in strength of cement
but do however work very well in decreasing the time taken to set.

REFERENCES:

[1] Brooks J.J. et al., 2000, the effect of admixtures on the setting times of high strength,
cement and concrete composites, pg. 22-31, America.
[2] Materials APCH312 W1 Practical Manual 2021, pages 13- 15

[3] Slideshare.net. 2021. Cement. [online] Available at:

<https://www.slideshare.net/sapnawalia/cement-51134499> [Accessed 30 April 2021].

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