002

Measurement of Certified Cement

with Dry Jet Dispersion Technology
Introduction
The cement industry improves the performance of its
products every day. This continuous adaptation of
production plants to technical, ecological and so on
requirements makes it necessary for regular
monitoring during cement manufacturing.
Some samples are taken in every step of the process
and routed to a control laboratory. A fast and precise
analysis device allows the duplication of controls in
order to be compliant to the major standards.
Different types of cement have to follow strict
guidelines in terms of composition, particle size...
These characteristics affect the mechanical
properties, setting time and so on of the different
kinds of cement. The manufacturing process controls
properties and helps in the reduction of production
cost. About 1% of the worldwide energy production is
consumed by the cement industry, mostly during the
grinding step.
Particle size analysis helps cement manufacturers
optimize the grinding process and therefore reduce
their cost. Particle size analyzers are a good way to
control the process and reduce costs.

Labs such as the National Society of the Littoral

(SNL) in France produce some cement. An
amount of this cement is taken and
homogenized. Then the samples are packaged
in airtight containers and are sent to different
laboratories (figure 1).

Why Certified Cement ?

Control devices such as particle size analyzers have
to be precise and reliable.
In order to verify the accuracy of these devices, the
cement industry has established certified cement. It
allows:
- A regular check of the accuracy of the instrument
(validation control)
- The standardization of measurements between
different manufacturing sites for national or
international companies.

Figure 1 : Vial of Reference Cement with Certificate

info.particle@cilas.com
www.cilas.com

How to obtain Certified Cement Data?

The French Technical Association of the Industry of the
Hydraulic Binder (ATILH) is one of worldwide
companies which certifies cement for particle size
analysis.
It arranges an interlaboratory test campaign each year.
The participants are mostly French or European
laboratories from various stages of cement production
and consumption :
- Cement manufacturers,
- Raw material producers,
- Cement users,
- Research and control centers for building materials.
These tests improve the reliability of the cement test
methods, compare the methods and verify the
measurement reproducibility.
CILAS application laboratory takes part in this
campaign.

Cement is measured with the two most popular

techniques for size measurement in the cement
industry: sieve and wet mode laser particle size
analysis. The cement measurement tests are
numerous and sometimes involve several
operators and/or several experiment maps.
Analysis of the results consists in doing
statistical treatment using working methods and
in producing a table with all the cement
characteristics.
The measures are centralized by ATILH and are
treated using classical statistical analysis:
Student test, Laplace-Gauss distribution,
Cochran test, and Grubbs test.
Certified cement is commercially available in
vials provided with a measurement certificate
containing a table listing the expected size
distribution.

Measurement of Reference Cement using DJD Technology

NIST Cement

SNL Cements

Certified Cement, such as that produced by NIST,

is available for sale. This cement is used for sieve
control. NIST gives the residue value at 45m for
its certified cement.
Performing cement measurements allows us to
observe a good correlation between the sieve
values and the results from a CILAS particle size
analyzer.

Measures of Reference Cement #8 from

SNL were performed on a CILAS PSA
with DJD Technology.
The SOP for Dry mode was :
- P = 220 mbars
- Vibratory Level : 1/9
- Obscuration : 10%

Results

Results

SNL Expected values

Residue at 45m

NIST

CILAS PSA

Min value

0.60%

0.70%

Mean Value

0.79%

0.74%

Max Value

0.98%

0.76%

Results obtained show that the cement is measured

correctly in dry mode using Dry Jet Dispersion (DJD)
technology.

CILAS PSA

Min

Max

D10%

0.99

2.29

1.51

D50%

11.52

15.2

14.08

D90%

34.34

45.33

41.39

info.particle@cilas.com
www.cilas.com

Analysis on results of Certified Cement measurement

CILAS new dry measurement technology shows excellent reproducibility.
The pressure needed to disperse powders is low (less than 1 bar) and prevents the possible erosion of
particles. Cohesive powders like cement are perfectly dispersed.
Excellent correlation between wet and dry modes is obtained because of the innovative calibration method
of the two dispersion modes according to ISO 13320 (figure 2).

Figure 2 : Reproducibility of 3 measurement of SNL Reference Cements

Conclusion
The innovative Dry Jet Dispersion Technology offers the following advantages for the Cement industry:

- Fine dispersion of cement particles at low pressure (less than 1bar)

- Excellent reproducibility on a cohesive powder such as cement
- Ideal correlation to recognized cement standards (ATILH, NIST,)

info.particle@cilas.com
www.cilas.com

Technical specifications

DJD technology is available on CILAS instruments in 3 different measurement ranges. All instruments are
available with the DJD system alone or in combination with the Wet Iso Dispersion system (WID system).

930
Principle of
measurement

1064

Range
Number of classes

Laser Diffraction &

CCD camera

Laser Diffraction

Modes of calculation

1180

Fraunhofer, Mie
0.1 - 500 m
100

0.3 - 500 m
70

Ways of Dispersion

Venturi

0.1 - 2500 m
100
Venturi - Free Fall

< 3 % on NIST traceable CRM (1)

Accuracy

Amount of sample

< 1 % on NIST traceable CRM (1)

Performances compliant with ISO 13320 norm
5 g minimum

Acquisition time
Compressed Air (2)

5 s minimum
0 - 4 +/- 0.01 bars

Repeatability

Number of lasers
Wavelength
Power
Length/width/height
Weight

830 nm

635 and 830 nm

635 and 830 nm
110/240 V - 50/60 Hz - < 100 VA)
830 mm / 560 mm 480 mm (33 in / 22 in / 19 in)
60 kg (132 lbs)
54 kg (119 lbs)
50 kg (110 lbs)

(1): measures of diameter by weight made on certified reference materials, traceable to NIST standards
(2): Air compressor and vacuum cleaner systems available in option

info.particle@cilas.com
www.cilas.com