. Standard Test Method for ‘An American National Standard COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF HYPRAULIC CEMENT ~ MORTARS (USING 2-in. OR.5O0-mm CUBE SPECIMENS)' ‘This standard is issued under the fixed designation C 109; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of original adoption or. in the case of revision. the year of last revision. A number in pareatheses indicates the year af last teapproval. A superscript epsilon (c) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval. pe : : This method covers determination of the | compressive strength of hydraulic cement mor- tars, using 2-in. or 50 mm cube specimens. B pec Note I—ASTM Method C349, Test for Com- i ‘Cement Mortars (Us- ing Portions of Prisms Broken in Flexure),’ provides an alternative procedure for this determination (not to be used for acceptance tests). Note 2—The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as the standard. "2. Applicable Documents 21 ASTM Standards. € 230 Specification for Flow Tatfie\for Use| in Tests of Hydraulic Cement* 305 Mechanical Mixing of Hydraulic Ce- sistency® : “C349 Test for Compressive Strength of Hy- draulic Cement Mortars (Using Portions i of Prisms Broken in Flexure)’ € 670 Practice for Préparing Precision State- ements for Test Methods for Construction aterials! C 178 Specification for Standard Sand* EU Specification for Wire-Cloth Sieves for Testing Purposes* 3. Apparatus 3.4 Scales, for weighing materials for mortar mixes, conforming to the following require- ments: On scales in use the permissible vari: tion at a load of 2000 g shall be £2.0 g, The permissible variation on new scales shall be one half of this Value. The sensibility reciprocal" + shall he not greater than twice the permissible variation. 3.2. Weights-The permissible variations on nn ie. weights used in weighing materials for monar mixes shall be as prescribed in Table 1. The permissible variations on new weights shall be one half of the values in Table 1. 33 Sieves, square-hole, woven wire-cloth No. 100 (150-zm), No. 50 (300-um). No. 40 (425-um), No. 30 (600-um) and No. 16 (1.18- mm) sieves conforming to Specification E 1 shall be used. (preferably large enqugh}o measure the mixing singiP\operatipn) to deliver the votuhefoh 6$°F (20°C), The permissi- 4 \bé#2 mL. These graduates subdivided to at [fast 5 mL. except that the. ion-t be omitted for the towest 10 mL for a 250-mL graduate and for the lowest 25 mL of a 500-mL graduate. The main graduation lines shall be circles and shall be numbered. The least graduations shall ex- tend at least one seventh of the way around, and intermediate graduations shall extend at least one fifth of the way around, 3.5 Specimen Molds, for the 2-in or $0-mm, ‘This oe 45 under the jurisdiction of ASTM. Comanm tice C-1 on Cement and is the ditect cesponabitty of Subcommittee CO1.27 on Stee ee Current edition approved March 28, 1980. Published May 1980. Originally publibed as C 409-24 7. Last previous ic 109 - 77, ‘Annual Rook of ASTM Standards, Pants 13 and 14. 2 Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Part 13, ty, Anmtal Book of ASTM Standards, Parts 13, 14, 18, and “Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Paris 13. 14. 15, 18, 26,30, and 41, __ "Generally defined. the sensibility reciprocatis the change in load requited to change the posiuon of rest of the indicate ing elemeat or elements of a nonautomatic-indicating scale adefinneamountat any load. For a mote cumpletedetn ate “Specificatwins, Tolerances, and Regulations tor rc ingand Measuring Devices.” Mundbuak fed tional Burcau of Standards, Septeniber 1949, pp. 92°43, ne‘7 cub&pecimens shall be tight fitting, The molds shall have not more than three cube compart- ments and shall be separable into not more than two parts. The parts of the molds when assembled shall be positively held together. The molds shall be made of hard metal not attacked ~ by the cement mortar. For new molds the Rockwell hardness number of the metal shall .- benot less than HRB 55.The sides of the molds shall be sufficiently rigid to prevent spreading ‘or warping. The interior faces of the molds shall be plane surfaces with a permissible var- iation of 0.001 in. (0.025 mm) for new molds and 0.002 in. (0.05 mm) for molds in use. The __ distances between opposite faces shall be 2 \,9n0.005 in. or 50 + 0.13 mm for new molds, and + 0.02 in. or 50 + 0.50 mm for molds in use. The height of the molds, measured, separately for each cube compartment, shall be 2 in. or 50 mm with permissible variations of +0.01 in. (0.25 mm) and —0.005 in. (0.13 mm) for new molds, and +0.01 in. and —0.015 in. (0.38 mm) for molds in use. The angle between adjacent interior faces, and between interio top and bottom planes of the mod, shall be 90 0.5° measured at points slight from the intersection of the fac Ri 3.6 Mixer, Bowl and Paddle, 4n' driven mechanical mixer of the 4 with paddle and mixing bowl, 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 of Method C 305. 3.7 Flow Table and Flow Mold, conforming to the requirements of Specification C 230. 3.8 Tamper, a nonabsorplive, nonabrasive, nonbritile material such as a rubber compound having a Shore A durometer hardness of 80 10 or seasoned oak wood rendered nonabsorp- tive by immersion for 15 min in paraffin at “proximately 392°F (200°C), and shall have —“a cross section of % by 1 in. (13 by 25 mm) and a convenient length of about 5 to 6 in. (120 to 150 mm). The tamping face shall be flat and at right angles to the length of the tamper. 3.9 Trowel, having a steel blade 4 to in. (100 to 150 mm) in length, with straight edges. 3.10 Testing Machine, either the hydraulic or the screw type, with sufficient opening between the upper bearing surface and the lower bearing surface of the machine to permit the use of verifying apparatus, The load applied to the test specimen shall be indicated with an accu- tracy of £1.0%. The upper bearing shall be a jh ed 2B 109 spherically seated, hardened metal block firmly attached at the center of the upper head of the machine. The center of the sphere shall lic at the center of the surface of the block in contact with the specimen. The block shall be closely held in its spherical seat, but shall be free to tilt in any direction. The diagonal or diameter (Note 3) of the bearing surface shall be only slightly greater than the diagonal of the face of the 2-in. or 50-mm cube in order to facilitate accurate centering of the specimen. A hardened metal bearing block shall be used beneath the specimen to minimize wear of the lower platen of the machine. The bearing block surfaces intended for contact with the specimen shall have a Rockwell hardness number not less than HRC 60. These surfaces shall not depart from plane surfaces by more than 0.0005 in, (0.013 mm) when the blocks are new and shall be maintained within a permissible variation of 0.001. in. (0.025 mm). Nore 3—A diameter of 3% in. (79.4 mm), which is large enough for testing 3 by 6-in. (75 by 150-mm) indsss-—ie-satisfscrory, provided that the lower ter slightly greater than the bearing block has a diai gqnal of thayfact of tbe 2-in. or $0-mm cube but ‘nok tho} tHanfAd ih. (74 mm), and is centered with t e beating block and held in posi- y buithtte P 4, Materi 4.1 Graded Standard Sand: 4.1.1 The sand (Note 4) used for making test specimens shall be natural silica sand conform- ing to the requirements for graded standard sand in Specification C 778. NoTE 4: Segregation of Graded Sand—The graded standard sand should be handled in such 3 manner as to prevent segregation, since variations in the grading of the sand cause variations in the con- sistency of the mortar. In emptying bins or sacks, care should be exercised lo prevent the formation of mounds of sand of craters in the sand, down the slopes of which the coarser particles will roll. Bins should be of sufficient size (0 permit these precau- tions. Devices for drawing the sand from bins by gravity should not be used. 5. Temperature and Humidity 5.1 Temperaure—The temperature of the air in the vicinity of the mixing sl materials, molds, base plates, and mi shall be maintained between 68 and 81.5°F (20 and 27.5°C). The temperature of the mixing ‘water, moist closet or moist room, and water in. hsTm 126 Test vor Compresstve STRENGTH oF Cearent Mortars (C 109 - 58) ‘The load applied to the test specimen shall be indicated with an accuracy of =£1,0 per cent. The upper bearing shall be a spherically seated, hardened metal block firmly attached at the center of the upper head of the machine. The center of the sphere shall lie at the center ‘of the surface of the block in contact with the specimen. The block shall be closely held in its spherical seat, but shall be free to turn in any direction. ‘The diagonal or diameter (Note) of the bearing surface shall be only slightly greater than the diagonal of the face 9 the 2-in, cube in order to fa ace contact with the\specimen_shal Rockwell hardnes\-nertber not less than C 60. These surfaces shall not depart from plane surfaces by more than 0.0005 in. when the blocks are new and shall be maintained within a permissible variation of 0.001 in. Norz.—A diameter of 3$ in., which is large enough for testing 3 by G-in. cylinders, is satis- factory, provided that the lower bearing block hhas a diameter slightly greater than the diagonal of the face of the 2-in. cube but not more than 2.9 fn., and is centered with respect to the upper bedring block and held in position by suitable ‘Temperature and Humidity 3. The temperature of the air in the vicinity of the mixing slab, the dry mate- rials, molds, base plates, and mixing bowl, shall be maintained between 20 and 27.5 C (68 and 81.5 F). The temper- ature of the mixing water, moist closet or moist room, and water in the storage tank shall not vary from 23 C (73.4 F) by more than -£1.7 C (3). . (®) The relative humidity of the lab- oratory shail be not less than 50 percent.” so constructed as to provide storage facilities for test specimens at a relative humidity of not less than 90 per cent. Graded Standard Sand 4, The sand (Note) used for making test specimens shall be natural silica sand from Ottawa, Ill, graded as follows: Peres Sieve TRetained No, 100 (149-mieron) 98 m2 No. 89 (207-mieron) bas orsacks, care should be exercised to prevent the formation of mounds of sand or craters in the sand, down the slopes of which the coarser particles will roll. Bins should be of suificient size to permit these tions. Devices for drawing the sand from bins by gravity should not be used. Sieve Analysis of Sand 5. (a) For checking the grading of the sand, make a sieving test of the sand on each of the four sieves specified in Section 2(c). Quarter samples of sand for the sieve tests from a sample of about 700 g obtained by the method of quartering the contents of a full sack (100 Ib) which have been thoroughly mixed and the pile dattened or spread out to minimize segregation during quartering. (8) Make the test on each sieve with approximately 100 g of sand. Do not at- tempt the selection of an exact prede- termined weight. Perform the sieving operations in the manner specified for sieving cement in the Standard Method of Test for Fineness of Hydraulic Ce- ment by the No. 200 Sieve (ASTM Designation: C 184),? except to continue the sieving until not more than 0.5 g passes through in'1 min of continuousdue on the sieve as a percentage of the weight of the original sample. Mechanical sieving devices may be used, but the sand shall not be rejected if it meets the requirements when tested by the hand method described in Method C 184. Number of Specimens 6. Three or more specimens shall be made for each period of test specified. Preparing Specimen Molds 7. Thinly cover the interior faces of the specimen molds with mineral oil or light cup grease. Thinly cover the contact surfaces of the halves of each mold with a heavy mineral oil or light cup greae such as petrolatum. After the molds, remove excess oil from the interior faces and the! bottom surfaces of each mold. molds on plane, nonabsorptiva plates that have been thinly coated y mineral oil, petrolatum, or light cup grease. Apply a mixture of 3 parts of paraffin to 5 parts of rosin by weight, heated between 110 and 120 C (230 and 248 F), at the outside contact lines of the molds and base plates so that water- tight joints are effected between the molds and the base plates (Note). Nore: Watertight Molds.—The mixture of paraffin and rosin specified for sealing the joints between molds and base plates may be found difficult to remove when molds are being cleaned. Use of straight is permissible if a water- tight joint is secured, but due to the low strength of paraffin it should be used only when the mold isnot held to the base plate by the paraffin alone. A watertight joint may be secured with paraffin alone by slightly warming the mold and base plate before brushing the joint. Molds so treated should be allowed to return to the specified temperature before use. Proportioning, Consistency, and Mixing of Mortars 8. (2) The proportions of dry mate- rials of the standard mortar shall be one part of cement to 2.75 parts of graded wn $$ $$ TSS fs Test ror Compressive STRENGTH OF CEMENT Mortars (C 109-58) 127 standard sand by weight. The quantities of dry materials to be mixed at one time in the batch of mortar for making six test specimens shall be 500 g of cement and 1375 g of graded standard sand. The quantities of dry materials to be mixed at one time in the batch of mortar for nine test specimens shall be 740 g of cement and 2035 g of graded standard sand, The amount of mixing water, meas- ured in milliliters, shall be such as to Produce a flow of between 100 and 115 as determined in accordance with Sec- tion 9 and shall be ex; ed as a percent- age by w nent (Note). % nitial trial mortar, ht of the cement be about 47 (+) Mixing shall be done mechanically in accordance with the procedure given in Section 5 of Method C 30S. Upon completion of mixing, the mixing paddle shall be shaken to remove excess mortar into the mixing bowl. Determination of Flow 9. Carefully wipe the flow-table top clean and dry and place the flow mold at the center. Place a layer of mortar about 1 in. in thickness in the mold and tamp 20 times with the tamper. The tamping pressure shall be just sufficient to insure uniform filling of the mold. Then fill the mold with mortar and tamp as specified for the first layer. Cut off the mortar to a plane surface, flush with the top of the mold, by drawing the straight edge of a trowel (held nearly perpendicular to the mold) with a saw- ing motion across the top of the mold. ‘Wipe the table top clean and dry, being especially careful to remove any water from around the edge of the fow mold. Lift the mold away from the mortar 1 min after completing the mixine anera.