MATERIALS

Portland Cement

Portland cement is artificial cement produced by the mixing and calcinations of certain
materials, which will yield silicates and aluminates of lime, and is obtained from the natural or
mechanical combination of time with silica and alumina in the form of shale.

Limestone and shale are washed, broken up and mixed with water in grinding mills and formed
into slurry. This slurry is then elevated to storage tanks and conveyed to the feeding and of the
kiln and delivered into the kiln in exactly the correct quantity. The slurry passes down through
the rotary kilns, which are steel cylinders about 3 to 4 meters in diameter and up to 150 meters
long, lined with firebricks and slightly inclined to the horizontal.

At the lower and coal dust is blown into the kiln where it is ignited and creates a fierce heat of
about 1,400oC. The slurry passing down the kiln first gives up its moisture, and then the chalk
or limestone is broken down into carom dioxide and lime, and finally forms a white-hot
clinker, which is conveyed through a series of coolers to a storage plant.

The materials are then conveyed to a grinding mill which is a cylinder some 15m long and up
to 4.5m in diameter containing a large number of steel balls of various sizes, which grind the
clinker into a fine powder. As the clinker is being fed into the ball mills, gypsum (about 5%) is
added to prevent quick settling time of the cement.

Rapid Hardening Portland cement – is more finely ground than ordinary Portland Cement.
Its main advantage-is that it gains a working strength earlier than ordinary cement. The
requirements for both ordinary and rapid hardening Portland cements are given in BS.12.

High Alumina Cement

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This is made by firing limestone and bauxite (aluminium ore) to a molten state; casting it into
pigs and finally grinding it into find powder. Its rate of hardening is very rapid and produces a
concrete, which is resistant to the natural sulphates found in some sub soils. It can however,
cost up to two and half times as much as ordinary Portland cement. The requirements of this
type of cement are covered in BS915.

Other forms of cement available are: Portland blast furnace - BS146

Sulphate – resisting - BS4027
Low heat blast – furnace- BS4246
Super-Sulphate - BS4248

Cement should be stored on a damp-proof floor in the dry and kept for short periods only
because eventually cement will harden as a result of the action of moisture in the air. This is
known as air hardening and any hardened cement should be discarded.

Limes
The term is applied to several materials all of which are produced by calcining or burning some
form of limestone, the product being named according to the composition of the limestone
burned.

1 Quicklime is a term applied to lime which slakes readily and which is in the state in
which it comes from the kiln.
2 Fat lime is term applied to a pure lime, which forms a plastic paste or putty when
slaked by the addition of a suitable proportion of water. Burning limestone chalk
containing at least 96% calcium carbonate makes it.
3 Lean lime is a term applied to any lime, which stakes on the addition of a suitable
proportion of water but does not form highly plastic putty. Such limes are formed
when any limestone containing more than 5% of silica is over burnt. It is
impossible to over burn a pure limestone or one that is free from silica.

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 4 Hydraulic lime is a term applied to any impure lime, which possesses the property
of settling, or forming a hard rock-like mass when mixed with a suitable proportion
of water.

The most powerfully hydraulic limes contain approximately 65% lime, 10-13%
alumina and 20-23% silica. According to their foreign content they may range from
feebly to eminently hydraulic in properties. They are made chiefly from a natural
mixture of limestone, sand and clay, such as that constituting the greater part of the
lias formation. For this, reason they are often called lias limes.

When an artificial mixture of limestone with suitable clay is burnt the product is
known as Portland cement.

Concrete
Concrete is the term applied to an aggregation of hard, course and soil substances which are
bound together by a cement. The former constituents are known as aggregate. Fine aggregates
are those, which will pass a standard 5mm sieve and course aggregates are those, which are
retained on a standard 5mm sieve.

The choice of aggregates is usually governed by cost, conditions and the available local
materials, but hard broken stone, well burnt bricks, gravel, ballast, furnace clinker and sand can
be used the latter being referred to as fine aggregate.

Concrete intended for use in positions where compressive stresses are likely to occur, as in
foundation work, should comprise ballast, broken brick or stone aggregates, but when it is
likely to be placed in positions where it is liable to be subjected to heat during an outbreak of
fire, broken brick or furnace clinker aggregates are most suitable because they will not change
in structure. Ballast and broken stone aggregates are liable to fly when cold water is applied
during a great fire. Sand plays an important part in the ultimate success of concrete, as the
small particles assist in filling the voids between large aggregates and reduces the quantity of
cement required for this purpose.

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The sand should be clean and free from clay or organic matter. The water used to mixing
concrete should be fresh, clean and free from organic or mineral impurities. A proportion of
the water will set up a chemical reaction, which will harden the cement. The remainder is
required to give the mix workability and will evaporate from the mix while it is curing, leaving
minutes voids. An excess of water will give a porous concrete of reduced durability and
strength.

The quantity of water to be used in the mix is usually expressed in terms of the water/cement
ratio, which is.

The total weight of water in the concrete

Weight of concrete

For most mixes the ratio is between 0.4 and 0.7

Concrete mixes can be expressed as volume
Ratios thus: - 1:2:4 = 1 part cement, 2 parts fine aggregate and 4 parts course
aggregate.
1:5 = 1 part cement and 5 parts all-in aggregate (all-in aggregate is a material of both fine and
course).

Proportioning
The proportions should be specified in terms of volume or mass because customary cement is
delivered in a bag mass of 50kg and a volume of approximately 0.04m3.

The correct proportioning of concrete will depend upon the stresses, which the concrete is
likely to be subjected. Below are some common proportions or mixes in common use; -

1) 1.10 – not a strong mix but it is suitable for filling pockets in excavations and for
bridging layers.
2) 1:8 – slightly better than the last, suitable for paths and paving.
3) 1:6 – s strong mix suitable for mass concrete foundations, paths and paving

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 4) 1:2:4 – Strong mix that is practically impervious to water in common use especially
for reinforced concrete.

Batching By Volume
This method is carried out using an open bottom box (of such dimensions as to make manual
handling possible) called a gauge box. For a 1:2:4 mix a gauge box is filled once with cement,
twice with fine aggregate and four times with course aggregate, the top of the gauge box being
struck off level each time. At the fine aggregate is damp or wet its volume will increase by up
to 25% and therefore the amount of fine aggregate should be increased by this amount. This
increase in volume is called bulking.

Batching By Mass
This method involves the use of a balance, which is linked to a dial giving the exact mass of
the materials as they are placed in the scales. This is the best method since it has a greater
accuracy and the balance can be attached to the mixing machine.

Hand Mixing
This should be carried out on a clean hard surface. The materials should be mixed in the dry
state before water is added. The water should be added slowly until a uniform colour is
obtained.

Machine Mixing
The mix should be turned over in a mixer for at least two minutes after adding water. The first
batch from the mixer tends to be harsh since some of the mix will adhere to the sides of the
drum. This batch should be used for some less important work such as filling in weak pockets
in the bottom of the excavation.

Handling
If concrete is to be transported for some distance over rough ground the runs should be kept as
short as possible since vibrations of this nature can be cause segregation of the materials in the

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mix. For the same reason concrete should not be dropped from a height of more than 1m. If
this is unavoidable a chute should be used.

Placing
If concrete is to be placed in a foundation trench it will be leveled from peg to peg. (Refer to
leveling pegs trench bottom) or if it is to be used as an oversight bed the external walls should
act as leveling guide. The leveling is carried out by tamping with a straight edge boards; this
tamping serves dual purposes of compacting and bringing the excess water to the surface so
that it can evaporate. Concrete must not be over tamped, as this will bring not only water to
the surface but also the cement paste, which is required to act as the matrix. Concrete should
be placed as soon as possible after mixing to ensure that the settling action has not commenced.
Concrete which drives out too quickly will not develop its full strength, therefore new concrete
should be protected from drying winds and sun by being covered with canvas, straw, polythene
sheeting or damp saw dust. This protection should continued for at least three days since
concrete takes about twenty eight days to obtain its working strength.