RECAP

UNIT 1
CONSTITUENT MATERIALS
TESTING OF CEMENT
TESTING OF CEMENT
Testing of cement can be brought under two
categories:
( a ) Field testing
 ( b ) Laboratory testing
How do you feel when you touch the cement?
How do you feel when you insert hand in the cement
bag?
What is the colour of cement?
Take about 100 grams of cement and a small quantity
of water and make a stiff paste. From the stiff paste,
pat a cake with sharp edges. Put it on a glass plate and
slowly take it under water in a bucket. What
happens….???
Field testing
Open the bag and take a good look at the cement.
 There should not be any visible lumps.
 The colour of the cement should normally be greenish grey.
Thrust your hand into the cement bag. It must give you a cool feeling. There should
not be any lump inside.
Take a pinch of cement and feel-between the fingers. It should give a smooth and
not a gritty feeling.
Take a handful of cement and throw it on a bucket full of water, the particles
should float for some time before they sink.
Take about 100 grams of cement and a small quantity of water and make a stiff
paste. From the stiff paste, pat a cake with sharp edges. Put it on a glass plate and
slowly take it under water in a bucket. See that the shape of the cake is not
disturbed while taking it down to the bottom of the bucket. After 24 hours the cake
should retain its original shape and at the same time it should also set and attain
some strength.
Laboratory testing
The following tests are usually conducted in the
laboratory
 Fineness test.
 Setting time test.
 Strength test.
Soundness test.
Heat of hydration test.
Chemical composition test.
Fineness Test
The fineness of cement has an important bearing on
the rate of hydration, rate of gain of strength,
evolution of heat.
• Finer cement offers greater surface area.
• Disadvantage of fine grinding is that it is susceptible
to air set & early deterioration.
• Maximum no. of particles in a sample of
cement<100microns.
• The smallest particle should have a size if 1.5microns.
Fineness Test
Fineness of cement is tested in two ways :
( a ) By seiving.
( b ) By determination of specific surface (total surface
area of all the particles in one gram of cement) by air-
premeability appartus. Generally Blaine
Airpermeability appartus is used.
Weigh correctly 100 grams of cement and take it on a
standard IS Sieve No. 9 (90 microns).
Break down the air-set lumps in the sample with
fingers.
 Continuously sieve the sample giving circular and
vertical motion for a period of 15 minutes. Mechanical
sieving devices may also be used. Weigh the residue
left on the sieve. This weight shall not exceed 10%
for ordinary cement. Sieve test is rarely used.
Air Permeability Method
Principle of air permeability method is in observing the
time taken for a fixed quantity of air to flow through
compacted cement bed of specified dimension and
porosity. BLAINS AIR PERMEABILITY TEST
 PROCEDURE: cement required to make a cement bed of
porosity 0.475 is calculated.
pass on the air slowly at constant velocity.
Adjust the rate of air flow until the flowmeter shows a
difference in level of 30-50cm.
Repeat these observation for constant h1/h2. specified air
flow.
Standard Consistency Test
Defined as the percentage water requirement of
cement paste at which viscosity of the paste becomes
such that plunger in a specially designed
apparatus(known as vicat’s apparatus).
Penetrates a depth 5 to 7 mm, measured from the
bottom of the mould.
Practical importance is to determine amount of water
needed to make paste for other tests of cement.
Take about 500 gms of cement and prepare a paste with a weighed quantity of water (say
24 per cent by weight of cement) for the first trial.
 The paste must be prepared in a standard manner and filled into the Vicat mould within
3-5 minutes.
 After completely filling the mould, shake the mould to expel air. A standard plunger, 10
mm diameter, 50 mm long is attached and brought down to touch the surface of the paste
in the test block and quickly released allowing it to sink into the paste by its own weight.
Take the reading by noting the depth of penetration of the plunger. Conduct a 2nd trial
(say with 25 per cent of water) and find out the depth of penetration of plunger. Similarly,
conduct trials with higher and higher water/cement ratios till such time the plunger
penetrates for a depth of 33-35 mm from the top.
That particular percentage of water which allows the plunger to penetrate only to a depth
of 33-35 mm from the top is known as the percentage of water required to produce a
cement paste of standard consistency.
This percentage is usually denoted as ‘ P ’. The test is required to be conducted in a
constant temperature (27° + 2°C) and constant humidity (90%).
Setting Time Test
Setting:
The action of changing from a fluid state to a solid
state is called setting.
The Indian Standards have selected two arbitrary
points which relate setting of cement to the time
measured from the moment the water is added.
Arbitrary points are initial setting time and final
setting time.
Setting Time Test
Initial Setting Time:
Defined as the period elapsing between the time when
water is added to the cement and the time at which the
needle of 1 mm square section fails to pierce the test
block to a depth of about 5 mm from the bottom of the
mould.
A period of 30  minutes is the minimum initial setting
time, specified by ISI for ordinary and rapid hardening 
Portland cements and 60 minutes for low heat cement.
Setting Time Test
Final Setting Time:
Defined as the period elapsing between the time when
water is added to cement and the time at which the
needle of 1 mm square section with 5 mm diameter
attachment makes an impression on the test block .
600 minutes is the maximum time specified for the
final set for all the Portland cements.
Lower the needle (C) gently and bring it in contact with
the surface of the test block and quickly release. Allow it
to penetrate into the test block.
 In the beginning, the needle will completely pierce
through the test block. But after some time when the
paste starts losing its plasticity, theneedle may penetrate
only to a depth of 33-35 mm from the top.
The period elapsing between the time when water is
added to the cement and the time at which the needle
penetrates the test block to a depth equal to 33-35 mm
from the top is taken as initial setting
Strength Test
Compressive Strength test:
Cement is usually subjected to compressive stresses
when used in the form of concrete or mortar.
The strength of the mortar depends upon the fineness
of cement, the gradation of sand and the most important
factor which water-cement ratio.
Soundness Test
Soundness Test:
The cement after setting shall not undergo any
appreciable change of volume.

Soundness Test on Cement is carried out to detect the

This test is performed with the help of Le Chatelier