Cement

Chapter-5
Fundamentals of cement
• Cement can be defined as a material with adhesive and cohesive
properties which make it capable of bonding mineral fragments into a
compact whole.
• Cement is an important civil engineering material widely used as binding
material such as cement mortar, RCC, PCC.
• It is used in almost all type of constructions. Popularity of cement is due
to its high plasticity, workability and moisture resisting property.
• It provides good bond between two materials and provides good
strength.
• Cement has replaced lime in the construction field due to its better
strength.
• Ordinary Portland Cement is one of the popular type of cement used in
almost all general construction works.
Characteristics of good cement
• The color of ordinary Portland Cement is greenish grey. The color of
cement must be uniform.
• It should feel smooth when touched or rubbed between the fingers.
• If in a bag of cement, you insert your hand, it should feel cool.
• It should be free from any hard lumps which otherwise indicate that
the cement has air set.
• It should not be moist.
• It should not contain excess silica, lime, alumina, or alkalies.
• It should not contain excess amount of clay and silt.
Ingredients of cement

The various ingredients and their proportion required for the manufacture
of cement are as follows:
Lime (CaO)
• It is mainly composed of calcium
carbonate and contains small
amount of magnesium carbonate and
main component of cement.
• Its proportion should be carefully
decided. Excess lime makes the
cement unsound & cause the cement
to expand & disintegrate.
• If it is not sufficient, the strength of
cement reduce.
Silica (SiO2)
• It takes part in chemical combination with calcium& form hard silicate
which are responsible for imparting strength to the cement.
• Excess of silica may increase the strength but reduces the setting time.

Alumina or clay:
• Alumina is responsible for setting action of cement. Excess of alumina
reduce the strength of cement.
Iron Oxide (Fe2O3)
• It provides color, hardness and strength to cement. It helps in fusion of
raw material during manufacturing.

Magnesium Oxide (MgO)

• If present in small amount, it provides hardness and color to cement. If
present in excess, it makes the cement unsound.

Calcium Sulphate (CaSO4)

• It is present in the form of gypsum. It helps to increase the initial setting
time of cement.
Sulphur Trioxide (SO3)
• Small quantity of sulphur trioxide makes the cement sound.
Alkalies
• They should be present in small quantities.
• If present in excess, it will cause efflorescence and also reacts with
aggregate to form harmful substance called ettringite (hydrous calcium
aluminium sulfate mineral) by the process of alkali-aggregate reaction.
• But in total absence of alkalis, the early strength of cement paste can be
abnormally low.
Various Types of Cement and their Properties

• Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)

• Rapid Hardening Portland Cement (RHPC)
• Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC)
• White Cement
• Quick Setting Cement (QSC)
• Coloured Cement
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)
Properties:
• Common type of cement found in market.
• Has medium rate of development of strength and medium rate of heat
generation.
• Sufficient resistance to shrinkage and cracking but has less resistance
to chemical attack.
• Initial setting time and final setting time are 30 minutes and 10 hours
respectively.
Uses:
• Used in all types of general construction
Rapid Hardening Portland Cement (RHPC)
Properties:
• Gains strength faster than OPC (3 days strength is of same order as the 7
days strength of OPC) so, known as High Early Strength Cement.
• Contains more proportion of tricalcium silicate which is responsible for the
rapid hardening of the cement.
• Higher rate of evolution of heat.
• It is lighter than OPC.
• The curing period is short, hence it is economical.
Uses:
• Used where formwork has to be removed as early as possible.
• Used in manufacture precast concrete products like slabs, posts, etc.
• Used where high early strength is required.
Low Heat Cement (LHC)
Properties:
• Amount of heat of hydration liberated is very low during setting and
hardening.
• Contains less lime than ordinary cement, other materials remains same
as in case of ordinary cement.
• Possess less compressive strength.
• Initial setting time is about 1 hour and final setting time is about 10
hours.
Uses:
• Used in mass concreting.
Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC)
Properties:
• Manufactured by mixing about 25% of pozzolanic material (material
containing silica and alumina in a reactive form) such as volcanic ash,
fly ash, powder of over burnt brick with Portland cement clinker and
grinding.
• Produces less heat of hydration and offers greater resistance to chemical
attack and the action of sea water.
• Gain of strength is slower than that in OPC but ultimate strength is
more than that of OPC.
• Initial and final setting times are same as that for OPC.
Uses:
• Suitable for mass concrete work.
• Used in sewage works and for under-water construction.
White cement
Properties:
• Clear white in colour.
• Manufactured from pure limestone and clay totally free from oxides
of iron, magnesium and by using oil as fuel instead of coal to avoid
the contamination of by coal ash.
• Possess same strength as OPC but has greater aesthetic value than
OPC.
• Much expensive than OPC.
Uses:
• Used for floor finish, plaster work, ornamental works (painting and
pointing).
Quick Setting Cement (QSC)
Properties:
• Manufactured by adding small percentage of aluminium sulphate,
reducing gypsum content, and grinding the cement more finely.
• Very low initial setting time (5 to 10 minutes) and final setting time
(30 minutes).
• More, costly than OPC.
Uses:
• Used in running water and under water constructions.
• Used in rainy and cold weather conditions.
• Used in places where quick strength is needed in short span of time
Coloured cement
Properties:
• Manufactured by adding 5 to 10% of suitable colouring
compound before grinding the clinker.
• Iron oxide for red and yellow colour.
• Chromium oxide for green colour.
• Cobalt oxide for blue colour.
• Also known as colourcrete and are more expensive than
ordinary cement.
• Possess higher aesthetic value.
Uses:
• Used for finishing of floors, external surfaces, stair
treads and other ornamental works.
Storage of Cement
Following precautions should be taken in the storage of cement.
• Walls, roofs and floors of building in which the cement is to be stored
should be completely water proof.
• In case the cement store is newly constructed then it’s interior should be
thoroughly dried before cement is stored in it.
• Cement bags should be so arranged that they can be used on the
principle of first come first served.
• Cement bags should not be placed directly on the floors, planks or iron
sheets may be placed below the cement bags to guard against dampness.
• Cement bags should be stacked close together to avoid free circulation
of air.
• Storing of cement in rainy season and long period should be avoided.
 Manufacture of Cement
The manufacture of cement can be discussed conveniently under two headings:
• Selection of raw materials and manufacturing process.
• At present Portland cement is manufactured by two processes:
i. Dry Process
ii.Wet Process
i. Dry Process
The dry process of manufacture of cement involves the following steps:
 Collection and treatment of raw materials
 Burning of dry mix.
 Grinding of clinker
 Packing and storage
Add Compressed air
Collection and treatment of raw materials
• Calcareous material e.g. limestone are quarried by blasting.
Argillaceous material eg. Clay, slate etc. are transported to the site by
ropeways or dumping trucks.
• The calcareous and argillaceous material are subjected to crushing,
drying and grinding before they are fed into kiln for calcinations. The
raw materials are first crushed into small fragments and dried in drying
kiln which are generally of rotary types. The grinding is done in two
stages:
 Preliminary grinding
 Secondary grinding
• In preliminary grinding the materials are reduced to fineness of 50
mesh (297µ).
• In secondary grinding the size is reduced to 200 mesh (75 µ).
• After the materials are ground to required size, they are mixed together
and fed into the kiln. The process of mixing raw materials in
required proportions is called blending. Normally, blending is done
in two different methods.
Mechanical blending
Pneumatic blending
• In mechanical blending, materials from different storage silos are taken
and fed into a single silo that now contains mixed materials.
• Similarly, in pneumatic blending, proportioned materials are pumped
under pressure into blending silo from where we obtain materials in
mixed state.
• From this stage onwards, there is practically no major difference
between the dry and the wet processes, except in the design of the
rotary kiln.
Burning
• The well-proportioned finely powdered mixture is charged into the
rotary kiln. It has charger end and burner end. The raw materials are
properly burned here. The burnt material now called is clinker. During
burning following reactions are supposed to take place:
i. Complete dehydration:
• Water is completely driven off at the very initial stage of burning at
temperature as low as 400oC.
ii. Dissociation of carbonates:
• Carbonates of calcium and magnesium are completely dissociated at
temperature between 800-900oC as per following reactions:
CaCO3 = CaO + CO2
Compound formation:
• Lime and magnesia as formed above are combined in the next stage
with silica, alumina and ferric oxide to form the basic compounds of
cement also known as Bogue’s compound namely, the tri-calcium
silicate (C3S), di-calcium silicate (C2S), tri-calcium aluminate (C3A)
and tetra calcium aluminium ferrite (C4AF).
Grinding of the clinker
• The completely burnt or calcined raw materials of the kiln
obtained in lump-shaped product, called clinker which is drawn out
from the lower end of the rotary kiln. The cool clinkers are then mixed
with 2-4% of gypsum and ground into fine powder and stored in silos.
Packing and storage
• The fine cement so obtained is packed in bags and supplied for use in
the market. For cement packing air-tight cloth or High Density
Polyethene (HDPE) bags are commonly used. The standard bag of
cement is commonly of 50 kg weight.
Wet Process
• This process is suitable when limestone of soft variety is available in
large quantity. This process completes in following four steps:
Collection of raw materials.
Crushing, grinding and mixing of raw materials (Preparation of
slurry)
Burning
Grinding of clinker
Collection of raw materials
• Calcareous materials such as limestone, chalk, etc are quarried by
blasting. Argillaceous materials such as clay, shale, etc. are
transported to the site by ropeways, dumping trucks.
Crushing, grinding and mixing of raw material (Preparation of
slurry)
• In wet process, the raw materials are supplied to the kiln in the form of
mixture with lots of water. The mixture so prepared is called slurry.
• To obtain the slurry, the raw materials are first crushed separately using
crushers for limestones and wet grinding mills for clays.
• These crushed materials are stored in separate tanks or silos. They are
drawn from the silos in prefixed proportions into the wet grinding mills
where in the presence of a lot of water, these get ground to a fine paste.
• This is slurry which is stored in separate silos called slurry silos. Its
composition is tested once again and corrected by adding limestone or
clay slurry in required proportion.
• Finally, such corrected slurry is then fed into the rotary kiln.
Burning
• For burning, a rotary kiln is used. The slurry with sufficient water is
passed through the several zones and all the moisture present in the
slurry is driven off.
• The slurry is fed from the upper end of kiln and pulverized coal is fed
into kiln from the lower end where the temperature reaches to 1400-
1500oC.
• At this temperature the materials are fused into the balls of size 0.3cm
to 2.5cm diameter called clinker. The clinker obtained from the kiln is
very hot.
• So the clinkers are allowed to cool and stored in silos.
Grinding
• The cooled clinker is mixed with 2-4% gypsum in order to prevent
flash setting of cement.
• The grinding is done in ball mills and very fine particles is removed
by current of air and finally stored in silos.
Packing and storage
• The fine cement so obtained is packed in bags and supplied for use in
the market as in case of dry process.
Comparison Between Wet Process and Dry Process
Test on Cement

• Fineness test
• Consistency test
• Setting test
• Soundness test
• Tensile strength test
• Compressive strength test
Fineness Test
• The purpose of conducting this test is to check the proper grinding of
cement, as finer cements have quicker action with water and gain early
strength. Finer the cement, more surface area of the aggregates covered by
it. Greater the fineness of cement, greater is the rate of heat development.
Excessive fineness is undesirable due to following reason:
• Cost of grinding will be too high for production of higher degree of fineness
cement
• Excessive fine cement deteriorates more quickly when exposed to the
environment and cause more shrinkage.
• The amount of water required is more for preparation of paste of standard
consistency.
• Greater fineness required greater amount of gypsum for proper retardation
which in result reduces the amount of C3A required for early hydration.
• The fineness of cement can be tested by:
 Sieve test
 Surface area test
Sieve test
Procedure:
• About 100g of cement is weighed to nearest 0.01g and placed on the 90micron
sieve.
• The sieve is agitated by swirling, planetary and linear movements, until no
more fine material passes through it.
• The residue obtained in the sieve is weighed and expressed in percentage (R1)
of total mass initially taken to the nearest 0.1%. Gently brush all the fined
material off the base of the sieve.
• The procedure is repeated using next 100g of sample and R2 obtained.
• Again, the procedure is repeated using next 100g of sample and R3 obtained.
• Calculate the mean of the three values.
• The maximum residual after sieving through a 90 micron IS sieve
should be limited to 10% by weight for Ordinary Portland Cement and
5% by weight for Rapid Hardening Portland Cement.
Surface area test
• This test is also known as specific surface test. It is better than the sieve
test. Specific surface is the total surface of all the particles of cement
per unit weight. It can be determined by Air Permeability method or
Wagner’s turbidimeter.
• OPC should not have specific surface less than 2250 cm2/g of cement
or 1600 cm2/g of cement if found by “Air Permeability Method” and
“Wagner’s turbidimeter” respectively.
• Similarly, for rapid hardening cement is greater than 3250cm2/g and for
PPC is greater than 3000cm2/g.
 Consistency test .

•This test is conducted to

determine the percentage of water
required for preparing cement
paste of standard consistency for
other test (setting time test,
soundness test, compressive
strength test).
• This test is performed with the
help of Vicat’s apparatus
Procedure:
• Take 300 gm. of cement sample and place it on a non - porous platform.
• Make a heap with depression at the center to hold the mixing water.
• Add 25% of water by weight of dry cement to the cement heap.
• Mix the cement thoroughly to make the cement paste.
• Fill the cement paste in the mould and level with the top of the mould by
striking off the surplus paste.
• Keep the mould under the Vicat’s plunger such that the plunger touches
the surfaces of cement paste and release the rod.
• After the plunger has come to rest, note the reading against the index.
• Repeat the test for trial pastes with varying water content till the
plunger comes to rest at the depth of 5 to 7mm from the bottom of the
mould.
• The percentage of water for which the depth of penetration of plunger
in the paste is 5 to 7 mm above the bottom of the mould is taken as the
water required for the preparation of cement paste of standard
consistency.
Standard Consistency – It is that cement consistency which will allow
the Vicat plunger to penetrate to 5-7 mm point from the bottom of
Vicat mould is known as standard consistency.
• The usual range of water required to make the paste of standard
consistency is 25 to 35% by weight of dry cement.
• The test should be conducted within 3-5 minute after addition of water
to cement for forming cement paste.
• The test is performed in standard temperature of 27+2oC. and relative
humidity of 65+5 %, relative humidity is measured by hygrometer.
• By Standardizing the consistency of cement, we know that how much
of water is required to produce an effective cement which will
eventually produce good quality of concrete.
Setting time test
• Cement mixed with water forms paste which gradually becomes less
plastic, and finally a hard mass is obtained. In this process of setting, a
stage is reached when the cement past is sufficiently rigid to withstand
a definite amount of pressure. The time to reach this stage is termed as
setting time. The objective of this test is to check the initial and final
setting time of the cement.
Initial setting time test
• The time to which the cement can be moulded in any desired shape
without losing its strength.
• This test is carried out to find whether cement sets at a rate suitable for
a particular work. It is determined in the laboratory with help of Vicat’s
apparatus with square needle of 1mm2 sectional area.
• The initial setting time of cement is defined as the time period between
the time water is added to cement and the time at which the 1mm2
needle penetrate upto the depth of 5mm to 7mm from the bottom of the
mould.
• The cement should have sufficient initial setting time so that the cement
concrete or cement mortar mix can be effectively mixed, transported
and compacted without any loss in its strength.
• For an Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), the value of initial setting
time is about 30 minutes.
• Thus, cement mix of OPC should be placed and compacted within the
initial setting time of cement (i.e. 30 minutes).
Procedure:
• Take 300 gm. of cement sample and place it on a non - porous
platform.
• Make a heap with depression at the center to hold the mixing water.
• Add 0.85*P% (where P is the percentage of water required for
normal consistency), of water by weight of dry cement to the cement
heap. Start the stopwatch when the water is added to the cement.
• Mix the cement thoroughly to make the cement paste.
• Fill the cement paste in the mould and level with the top of the mould
by striking off the surplus paste.
• Keep the mould under the Vicat’s initial set needle such that the needle
touches the surfaces of cement paste and release the rod.
• After the needle has come to rest, note the reading against the index.
• Repeat the test in the fresh area at the interval of 2 minutes till the
depth of penetration is 5 to 7 mm from the bottom of the mould.
• Stop the stopwatch and note the time elapsed from the time of addition
of water to the cement to the time when the depth of penetration is
5mm to 7mm from the bottom of the mould.
• The time thus recorded is the initial setting time of cement.
• During the initial setting time test the temperature of water and
cement paste should be within 27+2oC and at an atmosphere of 90%
humidity.
• The test should be performed at the same temperature and relative
humidity as in the consistency test.
Final setting time test
• It is determined in the laboratory with help of Vicat’s apparatus with
annular collar.
• Final set is said to have taken place when the needle gently lowered
to the surface of the paste, makes an impression on it but the circular
cutting edge fails to do so.
• The time elapsed from the moment of addition of water to the cement
to the instant when the final set has taken place is taken as the final
setting time for the given cement.
• The cement paste loses its plasticity completely after final setting
time.
• The final setting time for OPC is 10 hours.
Procedure:
• Take 300 gm. of cement sample and place it on a non - porous
platform.
• Make a heap with depression at the center to hold the mixing water.
• Add 0.85*P%, (where P is the percentage of water required for
normal consistency) of water by weight of dry cement to the cement
heap. Start the stopwatch when the water is added to the cement.
• Mix the cement thoroughly to make the cement paste.
• Fill the cement paste in the mould and level with the top of the mould
by striking off the surplus paste.
• Keep the mould under the Vicat’s
• Keep the mould under the Vicat’s annular collar such that the needle
touches the surfaces of cement paste and release the rod.
• Observe the surface of the cement paste if the circular cutting edge is
able to make the impression or not. If yes, repeat the procedure till the
needle makes the slight impression but not by the circular cutting
edge.
• The time at the moment when no impression is made by the circular
cutting edge is noted.
• The total time elapsed up to this point is taken as the final setting time
for the cement.
• Final setting time test is performed at the same temperature and
relative humidity as in the consistency test.
Compressive Strength test
• The compressive strength test for the cement is not done on the neat
cement paste because of difficulties of excessive shrinkage and
subsequent cracking of neat cement.
• Thus, the compressive strength of the cement is indirectly found by
using mortar cubes prepared by mixing specific proportion of sand and
cement.
• The mortar cubes are tested in the compression testing machine at the
end of 3 days,7 days, 14 days, and 28 days.
Procedure:
• Take about 600gm of standard sand (having 200gm of each grade I (1 to 2mm),
grade II (0.5 to 1mm) and grade III (0.09 to 0.5mm) i.e. given by IS: 650-1966),
200gm of cement (1:3) in a non-porous tray and mix with trowel for a minute.
• Add the calculated amount of water ((P/4 + 3) % of total dry volume, where P
is the percentage of water required for normal consistency) and mix the
mixture thoroughly for 3 minutes to give uniform colour.
• Fill the cube mould of size 70.6mm x 70.6mm x 70.6mm and compact either by
hand or by machine (vibrating table).
• Place the mould in the cabin of temperature 27 + 2oC for 24 hours.
• Remove the cubes from the mould and immerse it in the clean water.
• Take out the mortar cubes after 3 days and measure the dimension of the loaded
area (A).
• Place the cube specimen in compression testing machine and apply the load at
the rate of 35N/mm2/min. until the specimen fails.
• Note the failure load as P.
• Calculate the compressive strength (C) of the specimen as,
C=P/A
• Repeat the test for the next two samples and note the failure load.
• The average of the three specimens is taken as the average compressive
strength of the cement at the end of the 3 days.
• Repeat the procedure after the 7 days for next 3 cubes and find the
average compressive strength after 7 days.
• As per the IS specifications, the average compressive strength of cubes
at the end of 3 days and 7 days should not be less than 11.5 N/mm2 and
17.5 N/mm2.
•t

Tensile Strength test

• The tensile strength of cement is defined as the
resistance to tensile forces.
• The usual method of testing tensile strength of cement
involves the preparation of a number of test
specimens made in the shape of briquettes with
specified dimensions as shown in the figure given
below.
• The briquettes have uniform thickness of 25.4mm and
have minimum cross sectional area of 645mm2 at the
central part.
Procedure:
• Prepare the mortar mix of cement and sand in the ratio 1:3 and water
content of (P/5+2.5) % of total dry mix.
• Make the briquettes of standard dimensions by placing it in the
mould.
• Remove the briquettes from the mould after 24 hours at the
temperature of 27 + 2oC and submerge it in the water till they are
taken out for testing.
• Take out the specimen after 3 days and place the specimen in the
jaws of tensile testing machine, where load is applied steadily and
uniformly, starting from zero and increasing at the rate of 0.7 N/mm2
of section in 12 seconds.
• Find the tensile strength of the sample.
• Repeat the procedure for next five samples and
the average of the six test specimen is taken as
the tensile strength of the cement at the end of 3
days curing.
• Repeat the procedure for 7 days strength.
• As per IS, the average strength of six briquettes
tested after 3 days and 7 days should not be less
than 2.0 N/mm2 and 2.5 N/mm2 respectively.
•.

Soundness test
• Soundness of cement can be referred as the
capacity to form a non-disintegrating, hard and
uniformly strong mass on setting.
• This test is performed to detect the presence of
uncombined lime and magnesia in cement.
Greater the presence of uncombined lime,
greater is the expansion.
• The expansion of cement is sometimes so much
that it causes cracking of cement after setting.
• The test is done using ‘Le-Chatelier’s apparatus’. It consists of a small brass
cylinder of 30mm diameter, 30mm high, 0.5mm thick along with split which does
not exceed 0.5mm. Two indicators with pointed ends are attached to the cylinder
on the either side of the split.
Procedure:
• Make the cement paste is formed by gauging cement with 0.78 times the water
required to give a paste of standard consistency.
• Place the cylinder on the glass plate and fill the cylinder with the cement paste.
• Place another glass plate on the top of the cylinder.
• Immerse the whole assembly in the water at 24 to 35oC for 24 hours.
• Take out the cylinder and measure the distance between the indicators
(say x).
• Again immerse the cylinder in water and bring the water to boiling
point in 25 to 30 minutes and keep boiling for 3 hour.
• Remove the mould from the water, allow it to cool and measure the
distance between the indicators once again (say y).
• Difference between these two measurements indicates the expansion of
cement.
• The increase in distance between the indicators represents the expansion
of the cement.
• As per IS specification the increase in distance between the indicators
should not exceed 10mm for a Portland cement.
Composition and function of cement clinker
The main constituents of cement after chemical combinations are Bogues
compound. Bogue compounds in cement when water is added in the
cement it reacts with its ingredients chemically and results in the formation
of complex compounds known as bogue's compound.
 Admixtures

• Admixtures can be defined as materials other than basic ingredients

(cement, water and aggregate) that is used in the concrete before or
during mixing to improve their quality.
• Such admixture may be added to improve one or another property of
concrete. These admixtures may be natural substances like finely
crushed glasses, silts, shales, volcanic ash, etc.
The admixture serves in the following ways:
• Improves workability.
• Retard setting action of mortar and concrete.
• Increase bond strength between reinforcement and concrete.
• Improve the water proofing properties of cement.
• Reduce shrinkage during setting of mortar.
• Reduce bleeding and segregation effects of concrete.
• They are available in both powder and aqueous solution.
• Aqueous solution is most suitable because they can be easily mixed and
dispersed into the mix uniformly.
• They are usually added in less than 5%.
• There are different types of admixtures and can be classified into
following types on the basis of their function.

1. Accelerating admixtures (Accelerators):

• These admixtures are used when the concrete need to be set and hardened
as quickly as possible. They are generally used in construction in cold
climates. It is added upto 2% by weight of the cement. The addition of
accelerators reduces the ultimate strength of concrete. E.g.: Aluminium
chloride, silicon fluoride, sodium carbonate, etc.
2. Retarders:
• These are added to increase the setting time and hardening time of the
cement.
• This may become essential when the concrete made at one place has
to be used at some distance so that some additional time for
transportation and placing is available.
• Such condition arises commonly in hot climates and massive concrete
structures are to be constructed.
• E.g. : Calcium sulphate (added as gypsum).
3. Plasticizers:
• These are also called water reducing admixtures.
• They are added to the concrete mix for making it more plastic without
any further addition of water.
• In other words, they reduce the quantity of water (upto 10%) required
to make a concrete mix of better plasticity.
• Since less quantity of water is added in the mix, the ultimate strength of
the concrete is enhanced. They are generally added below 0.5% by
weight of cement in the concrete.
• E.g. Salts of hydroxylated acids.
4. Air-entraining agent:
• These admixtures allow a controlled quantity of small, uniformly
distributed air bubbles to be incorporated during mixing.
• Air entrainment is usually specified by the percentage of air in the
mix.
• The incorporation of air bubbles decreases the ultimate strength of the
concrete, typically 5-6% reduction for each 1% of additional air.
• For this reason, air should normally be limited to the lowest level
necessary to achieve the required properties.
• A small quantity of air in the form of fine bubbles improves the frost
resistance and durability.
• E.g.: resins, fatty acids and oils, aluminium and zinc powders, etc.
5. Water resisting admixtures:
• Admixtures that reduces capillary absorption of water into the
hardened concrete are called water-proofing admixture.
• They are also known as ‘permeability reducing admixtures’.
• They reduce the permeability or improves the water-proofing
characteristics by one or more of the following ways:
 Reducing the size, number and continuity of the capillary pore
structure.
 Blocking the capillary pore structures.
 Lining the capillaries with a hydrophobic material to prevent water
being drawn in by absorption/capillary suction.
Composition of Cement Clinker (Bogue’s Compound)

The cement clinker consists of the following major compounds:

 Tricalcium Silicate (3CaO SiO2) C3S about 40%
 Dicalcium Silicate (2CaO SiO2) C2S about 32%
 Tricalcium Aluminate (3CaO Al2O3) C3A about 10.5%
 Tetracalcium Aluminium Ferrite (4CaO Al2O3 Fe2O3) C4AF
about 9%
• Beside these major compound, the proportion of other constituents
varies from 0 to 5% and gypsum 2 to 4%, which is added while
grinding the clinker.
The properties of the compounds of clinker are as follows:
i. Tricalcium Silicate (C3S):
• Hydrates more by rapid generation of heat.
• Possesses less resistance to chemical attack.
• It helps to develop early strength.
ii. Dicalcium Silicate (C2S):
• It helps to provide ultimate strength to the cement
• It offers more resistance to chemical attack
• Hardens more slowly
• Hydrates slowly

iii. Tricalcium Aluminate (C3A):

• It is weak against sulphate attack.
• It reacts quickly with water by generating large amount of heat.
• It does not contribute to develop strength of cement.
• It causes initial setting of cement.
iv. Tetracalcium Aluminate Ferrite (C4AF):
• It is an inert compound having poor cementing value.
• It reacts slowly and generates small amount of heat.
• It is comparatively inactive.
• The most of the strength developing properties of cement is controlled
by C3S and C2S
High percentage of C3S and low Percentage of C2S results in:
• Rapid hardening
• High early strength with high heat generation
• Less resistance to chemical attack
Low percentage of C3S and high percentage of C2S results:
• Slow hardening
• Much more ultimate strength with less heat generation
• Greater resistance to chemical attack.
• So, by changing the relative proportion of these compound, various
types of cement can be manufactured.