NAME: BAKARE IBRAHIM .

MATRIC №: 090403027

DEPARTMENT: ELECTRICAL/
ELECTRONICS

LEVEL: 300

GROUP №: B

TITLE OF EXPERIMENT: PROPERTIES OF

ORDINARY
PORTLAND
CEMENT

EXPERIMENT №: 1
TITLE OF EXPERIMENT: PROPERTIES OF ORDINARY PORTLAND
CEMENT

DATE PERFORMED: 16/12/2011

INTRODUCTION:

The objectives of this experiment include:

a. To determine the standard Consistence of a given Portland

cement.
b. To determine the initial and final setting times of a given
Portland cement.

APPARATUS:

a. The vicat apparatus complete with mould and a plunger

Vicat apparatus: vicat apparatus + plunger

Vicat apparatus + needle

Vicat apparatus + needle with nose

The vicat apparatus with plunger is used to determine

consistency of water/cement mixture.

The vicat apparatus with needle is used to obtain initial setting

time.
 The vicat apparatus with needle and plunger is used to obtain
final setting time.

b. The mould and base plate are needed in order to determine

the cement mixture.
c. The 25ml beaker is for obtaining required water volume
d. Scrapper is used for scraping.
e. 3kg balance
f. Gauging towel & glass plate

The properties of constituents of concrete are too many and varied

but the major ingredients for making concrete are cement,
aggregates and water. The higher the cement content and the lower
the water/cement ratio, the stronger and more durable will be the
concrete (this is within certain limits). While water is the most
consistent, aggregate is the most variable.

Water: Drinkable water is the best for mixing concrete. This is

needed to chemically react with the cement (hydration)
and too provide workability with the concrete. The
amount of water in the mix in pounds compared with the
amount of cement is called the water/cement ratio. The
lower the w/c ratio of the mix, the stronger the concrete.
 The higher the strength of the mix, the less the
permeability.

Cement: The Portland Cement used widely at present is

manufactured to comply with the requirements of B.S. 12.
The raw materials for its manufacture are chalk,
limestone, clays and shales.

Aggregates: Sand, chalk, limestone, clay, bithium, gravel and granite

may serve as good fillers, some fine while some others are
coarse.

The most common tests carried out to determine the qualities of

cement are fineness, setting times, soundness and compressive
strength. Only the setting times and compressive strength will be
stressed in this experiment.

I. Fineness Test: The fineness of cement is determined by a

procedure giving specific surface, expressed as total surface
area in square meters per kilogram.

II. Soundness Test:The soundness of cement is determined by the

‘le Chateiler’ method of measuring its expansion after
immersion in cold and in boiling water.
III. Strength Test: The strength of cement is determined by
compressive strength test on 70.7 mm mortar cubes made with
a standard sand (thoroughly washed and dried natural sand,
graded to pass 5 mm sieve and be retained on a 600 micron
sieve) mixed by hand and compacted by means of a standard
vibration machine.

THEORY:

Cement is a hydraulic binder and is defined as a finely ground

inorganic material which , when mixed with water , forms a paste
which sets and hardens by means of hydration reactions and
processes which , after hardening retains its strength and stability
even under water. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is one of several
types of cement being manufactured throughout the world.

TYPES OF PROTLAND CEMENT

Different types of Portland cement are manufactured to meet

different physical and chemical requirements for specific purposes
such as durability and high early strength. Eight types and brief
description of their uses are listed below:

CEMENT TYPE USE

I General purpose cement, when
there are no external conditions
II Aids in providing moderate
resistance to sulphate attack
III When high-early strength is
required
IV When a low heat of hydration is
desired
V When high sulphate resistance is
required
IA A type I cement containing an
integral air entraining agent
IIA A type II cement containing an
 integral air entraining agent
IIIA A type III cement containing an
integral air entraining agent

Every year a huge amount of OPC is produced and used for the
construction of building, roads and highways and other local
purposes. In Bangladesh, use of poor quality cement in structural and
constructional works may cause loss of lives and properties. So,
quality assurance of OPC has become an important and critical
factor. The cement to be used in construction must have certain
qualities in order to play its part effectively in structure. When these
properties lie within a certain specified range of standard values, the
engineer is confident that in most of the cases the cement
performance will be satisfactory. In addition, based on these
properties it is possible to compare the quality of cement from
different sources. A number of tests are performed in the
laboratories of cement industries to ensure that the cement is of the
desired quality and it conforms to the requirement of the relevant
standards. There are several brands of OPC available in market but
their chemical compositions are same. Variations in physical
properties occur due to the variation in the amount of chemical
constituents.

Effects of cements on concrete properties.

Cement Property Cement Effects

Place ability Cement amount, fineness, setting

characteristics

Strength Cement composition (C3S, C2S and C3A), loss

on ignition, fineness

Drying Shrinkage SO3content, cement composition

Permeability Cement composition, fineness

Resistance to sulphate C3A content

Alkali Silica Reactivity Alkali content

Corrosion of Cement Composition (esp. C3A content)

embedded steel

The main kind of strength concrete is compressive strength that

correlates with tensile strength, shear strength, flexural strength and
other kinds of strength.

The stiffening times of cement paste or mortar fraction are

determined by setting times. The setting characteristics are assessed
by initial set and final set. When the concrete attains the stage of
initial set, it can no longer be properly handled and placed. The final
set corresponds to the stage at which hardening begins. At the time
of the initial set the concrete will have exhibited a measurable loss of
slump. Admixtures may influence the setting times. The retarders
increase the setting times and accelerators decrease them. In vicat
method, the initial setting time occurs when a penetration of 25 mm
is obtained. At the time of final set the needle should not sink visibly
into the paste.

PROCEDURE:

a. We determined the water/cement (w/c) ratio required to

produce a cement paste of a standard consistence involved a
process of trial and error until a paste was achieved which
allowed the vicat plunger to sink to 5 to 7mm from the bottom
of the vicat mould.

We began with a w/c ratio of 0.5 and varied this according to

1
the penetration of the plunger. The time for gauging was 4 2

minutes. We filled the mould in one layer using the gauging

trowel and placing the mould on a piece of glass. We smoothed
off the top of the paste and placed the mould under the rod
bearing and plunger in the vicat apparatus. We lowered the
plunger gently on the surface of the paste and released quickly
 to allow it to settle. The paste, which will allow the plunger to
sink to within 5 to 7mm of the bottom of the mould, has a
standard. We specified the consistence and the w/c ratio
figures.

b. We placed a cement paste of standard consistence (as in (a)

above) in the vicat mould. We allowed the needle C of the vicat
apparatus to come into contact with the smoothed surface of
the paste and determined the time for the needle to settle
5mm from the bottom of the mould. The period elapsing
between the time when the water is added to the cement and
the time at which the needle ceases to pierce the test block as
described above is known as the initial setting time.

We replaced the needle C by the needle F in the vicat

apparatus and allowed this to come gently into contact with
the surface of the test block and by a process of repetition, we
determined the time for the needle to make an impression in
the surface but the attachment failed to do so.

OBSERVATION:

 Increased water/cement ration at a constant cement amount

of 400g was accompanied by an increase in the amount of
water needed.
  We obtained a consistent water/cement mix at a water/cement
ration of 0.28 (for 400g of cement)
 For values of water/cement ration less than, we obtained an
inconsistent mix and hence more water was required.
 The initial setting time is not less than 45 minutes.
 The final setting time is not more than 600 minutes
 For water/cement ration, a test using the vicat plunge with
needle was carried out and we obtained a depth of on the first
attempt and in the second attempt.
 The final setting time reading was obtained when the needle
impression (vicat needle) was no longer visible in the surface of
the cement mix.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:

a. The objectives were achieved. The standard consistence of

400g of cement is 0.28. The initial setting time of the Portland
 cement is 163 minutes. The final setting time of the Portland
cement is 240 minutes.
b. Initial setting time obtained= 163 minutes

Final setting time obtained = 240 minutes

The standard initial setting time is not less than 45 minutes and
the standard final setting time is not more than 600 minutes

c. There were no unusual or unexpected results

d. The results obtained are accurate because the initial setting
time obtained was in the range of standard initial setting time.
Likewise the final setting time was also in line with the standard
final setting time.
e. Cement, water and sand (aggregates) and granite combine to
form concrete using the popular concrete aggregate ratio 1-2-4.
We obtain a bag of cement (50kg), 2 bags of sand and 4 bags of
granite. We multiply the weight of cement i.e. 50kg by to
obtain of water. Hence, building workers on site carrying out
construction project need of water for every bag of cement
they will use in order to obtain a consistent mixture. This can
prevent the premature collapse of buildings if properly
implemented.
f. There were no difficulties experienced during the course of the
experiment.
g. The gillmore’s test could be a better test.
RESULTS:

WATER CEMENT WATER DEPTH OF SINKING

RATIO (G) PLUNGE
(MM)
0.250 100
0.275 110 20
0.300 112 5
0.325 132
0.350 140
0.375 152

AMOUNT OF OIL WATER/CEMENT DEPTH

(MM)
100 0.275 20
110 0.28 4
120
132
140
152
 SETTING TIME

TIME SINKING DEPTH

(pm)
2.30 2
2.35 3
2.40 3
2.42 4
2.44 4