CEMENT–
QUALITY TYPES
& USES
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by
Arundhathi unnikrishnan
CONTENTS
What is cement ?
Composition
Quality
Grade
Types
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WHAT IS CEMENT?
* A cement is a binder , a substance used in
construction that sets, hardens and adheres to
other materials, binding them together.
* Cement is a mixture of different constituents and
acts as the main constituent in concrete, Egyptians
first manufactured Cementing materials by burning
gypsum. And then Romans & Greeks used
cementing materials obtained by burning limestone.
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GENERAL CHEMICAL
COMPOSITION
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QUALITY
It is necessary to check the quality of cement on site at the
time of preliminary inspection. It is not possible to check all the
engineering qualities of cement on site but there exist some
field test which gives us a rough idea of quality of cement.
Date of packing
Colour
Rubbing
Hand Insertion
Float Test
Smell Test
Presence of lumps
Shape Test
Strength Test 5
GRADE OF CEMENT
These are terms used for describing different grades of
cement. A grade of cement indicates the strength of
cement that is measured in Mega pascal (Mpa ) or
N/mm2. Cement is usually measured after 28 days of
curing for a standard cube.
most professionals opt for 53 grade cement.
33 Grade Ordinary Portland used for general construction
Cement work under normal
I.S. 269:1989
environmental condition.
43 Grade Ordinary Portland used for plain concrete work
Cement and plastering works.
I.S. 8112:1989
53 Grade Ordinary Portland used for structural purposes
Cement as in reinforced cement 6
I.S. 12269:1987
concrete.
TYPES OF CEMENT
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)
Rapid hardening cement
Coloured cement
Hydrophobic cement
Expanding cement
Acid resistant cement
Quick setting cement
Sulphate resisting cement
High Alumina cement
White cement
Air entraining cement
Oil well cement
Low heat cement
Super sulphate cement
Pozzolana cement 7
Blast furnace slag cement
Ordinary portland
Rapid hardening cement
cement
In usual construction When finely grounded
work,Ordinary Portland Tri-calcium silicate
Cement is widely used. (C3S) is present in
Uses of Ordinary OPC with higher
Portland Cement content, it gains
It is used for general strength more quickly
than OPC. This type of
construction purposes.
OPC is called Rapid
It is also used in most
Hardening Cement.
of the masonry works.
It’s initial Setting Time
30 minutes and Final
Setting Time 600
minutes.
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Coloured cement Hydrophobic cement
The cements are Usually, it is used in the
obtained by adding construction of water
pigments with opc or structures such as
white cement dams, spillways, or
Chromium oxide-green other submerged
Cobalt-blue structures.
It is also used in the
Carbon pigments-black
construction of
Manganese-black,brown
underground structure
Uses like tunnel etc.
For decorative works
Plastering of walls
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Expansive cement Acid resisting cement
Opc shrinks during This cement resists
setting and drying. the attack of acid.
While expansive To achieve this, the
cement suffers materials like
hardly any change quartz,sodium
in volume during silicates are added
drying to opc.
Uses Used for
Machine foundation construction of acid
Concrete repair resisting floors in
works factories
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Sulphate resisting
Quick setting cement
cement
Sulphet resisting Quick setting cement is
cement is used to the cement which sets in a
resist sulphet attacks in very short time. The initial
concrete. Due to the setting time is 5 minutes
lower percentage and the final setting time is
30 minutes. The
of Tricalcium aluminate,
composition of Quick
the production of Setting Cement:
calcium sulpho- Aluminium sulphate (1% to
aluminates gets 3% by weight of clinker)
reduced. The aluminium sulphte
Uses increase the hydration rate
Marine structures of silicate.
Ideal for under water
Sewage treatment 11
construction
structures
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