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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

• Portland cement: manufactured by crushing and pulverizing

a carefully prepared mix of -

• limestone,

• marl, and

• clay or shale

• and by burning the mixture at a high temperature

(about 2800°F) to form a clinker.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

• The clinker is then –

 allowed to cool,

 a small quantity of gypsum is added,

 and the mixture is then ground until more than 90 percent

of the material passes the No. 200 sieve.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

• The main chemical constituents –

• Tricalcium silicate (C3S),

• Dicalcium silicate (C2S), and

• Tetracalcium alumino ferrite (C4AF).

• In expressing compounds, C =CaO, S = SiO2, A = Al2O3, F =

Fe2O3. For example, C3A = 3CaO.Al2O3.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

The AASHTO specifications list five main types of Portland cement.

 Type I:

 Suitable for general concrete construction, where no special

properties are required.

 A manufacturer will supply this type of cement when no

specific type is requested.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

The AASHTO specifications list five main types of Portland cement.

 Type II:

 Suitable for use in general concrete construction, where the

concrete will be exposed to moderate action of sulfate or

where moderate heat of hydration is required.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

The AASHTO specifications list five main types of Portland cement.

 Type III :

 Suitable for concrete construction that requires a high

concrete strength in a relatively short time.

 It is sometimes referred to as high early strength cement.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

The AASHTO specifications list five main types of Portland cement.

 Types IA, IIA, and IIIA are similar to Types I, II, and III,

respectively, but contain a small amount (4 to 8 percent of total

mix) of entrapped air.

 This is achieved during production by thoroughly mixing the

cement with air-entraining agents and grinding the mixture.

 More resistant to calcium chloride and de-icing salts and are

therefore more durable.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

The AASHTO specifications list five main types of Portland cement.

 Type IV :

 Suitable for projects where low heat of hydration is

necessary.

 Type V :

 Used in concrete construction projects where the concrete

will be exposed to high sulphate action.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Portland Cement

 chemical constituents for each of the five types of cement.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Coarse Aggregate

 Coarse aggregate: material retained in a No. 4 sieve.

 Should be inert materials that do not react with cement .

 Usually are comprised of crushed gravel, stone, or blast furnace

slag.

 May be any one of the three materials or a combination.

 One of the major requirements - gradation of the material.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Coarse Aggregate

 The material should be well graded, with the maximum size specified.
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Cement Concrete Materials: Coarse Aggregate

 Coarse aggregates must be clean - achieved by specifying the

maximum percentage of deleterious substances allowed in the

material.

 Other quality requirements: ability to resist abrasion and the

soundness of the aggregates.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Coarse Aggregate

 Los Angeles Abrasion Test (AASHTO Designation T96, ASTM

C131), is used to determine the abrasive quality of the

aggregates.

 Maximum permissible loss in weight ranges from 30 to 60

percent, depending on the specifications used; however, a

maximum of 40 to 50 percent has proved to be generally

acceptable.
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Cement Concrete Materials: Coarse Aggregate

 Soundness is defined as the ability of the aggregate to resist

breaking up due to freezing and thawing.

 The sample is frozen in the water for 2 hours and thawed for

one-half hour.

 Repeated between 20 and 50 times.

 Sodium or magnesium sulphate may be used instead of water.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 Sand is mainly used as the fine aggregate .

 Specifications usually include

 grading requirements,

 soundness, and

 cleanliness..
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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 AASHTO grading requirements -

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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 Soundness requirement:

Usually given in terms of the maximum permitted loss in

the material after 5 alternate cycles of wetting and drying

in the soundness test.

 A maximum of 10 percent weight loss is usually specified.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 Cleanliness : specified in terms of the maximum amounts of

different types of deleterious materials contained in the fine

aggregates.

 For example, a maximum amount of silt (material passing No.

200 sieve) is usually specified within a range of 2 to 5 percent of

the total fine aggregates.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 Presence of large amounts of organic material - may reduce the

hardening properties of the cement.

 A standard test (AASHTO Designation T21) also usually is

specified as part of the cleanliness requirements.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 A sample of the fine aggregates is mixed with sodium

hydroxide solution and then allowed to stand for 24 hours.

 The amount of light transmitted through the liquid floating

above the test sample is compared with that transmitted

through a standard color solution of reagent grade

potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O2) and concentrated

sulfuric acid.
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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 The fine aggregate under test is considered to possibly contain

injurious organic compounds, if less light is transmitted through

the liquid floating above the test sample.

 In such cases, additional tests should be carried out before using

the fine aggregate in the concrete mix.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Fine Aggregate

 For example, sand can be used only if the strength developed by

2 in. cubes made with this sand is at least 95 percent of that

developed by similar cubes made with the same sand, after

washing it in a 3 percent hydroxide solution.

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Cement Concrete Materials: Water

 Main water requirement : the water used should be suitable

for drinking.

 This requires that the quantity of organic matter, oil, acids, and

alkalis should not be greater than the allowable amount in

drinking water.
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ADVANCED HIGH-PERFORMANCE
MATERIALS FOR HIGHWAY APPLICATIONS:

The potential advanced materials identified by FHWA include

the following:

1. Cementitious Materials.

a. Performance-specified cements.

b. Next-generation sustainable cements.

c. Eco-friendly cements.

d. Energetically modified cement.

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Cementitious Materials:

A. PERFORMANCE-SPECIFIED CEMENTS:

• To reduce the environmental footprint of concrete

• Portland cement: responsible for 90 to 95 percent of

the CO2 associated with concrete .

• The key - to reduce the amount of Portland cement

used

• And one way of accomplishing that is through the use

of alternative cement binders.

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Cementitious Materials:

A. PERFORMANCE-SPECIFIED CEMENTS:

• Recent adoption of ASTM C1157, (Performance Specification

for Hydraulic Cement ).

• Six cement types are available:

• GU (general use).
• LH (low heat of hydration).
• MH (moderate heat of hydration).
• HE (high early strength).
• MS (moderate sulfate resistance).
• HS (high sulfate resistance).
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Cementitious Materials:

A. PERFORMANCE-SPECIFIED CEMENTS:

• The concept: direct material performance is of interest and

not its composition.

• Promotes innovative development of composite Portland

cements (e.g., Portland cement blended with limestone or

multiple supplementary cementitious materials) as well as

opening the door to non-Portland cement binders.

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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

• Alkali-activated cements and Geopolymers in

concrete has been gaining popularity.

• Alkali-activated cements do not rely on ASTM C150

Portland cement, instead use alkali-activators to stimulate

hydration of fly ash, slag cements, and natural materials,

with the result being a durable, environmentally friendly

binder.
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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

• Geopolymers use alkali solutions to dissolve and then

polymerize reactive minerals rich in alumino-silcate glass

(e.g,. Class F fly ash, metakoalin) in a non-hydration

reaction.

• Both alkali-activated and Geopolymer cements have been

used in a number of structures, but have not seen much use

in the transportation field.

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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

• Another research area is looking into the development of cements

that actually sequester CO2 from the atmosphere.

• Companies are working on producing synthetic aggregates
and carbon-sequestering cement by Passing CO2-laden
exhaust gases from coal-fired power plants through seawater,
brackish water, or water laden with suitable minerals, resulting
in a reaction between the CO2 and calcium or
magnesium ions in the water.
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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

• CCS Materials, Inc. (Allen 2009) is developing CO2-negative

cements and concretes that incorporate CO2 in their structure.

• The new materials have as good or better physical properties

(compressive strength exceeding 14,500 lbf/in2 [100 MPa]) than

most PCCs.
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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

• Another advantage is that the new CO2-negative concrete fully

hardens in hours in contrast to Portland cement, where the

hydration reaction takes months to years to reach completion.

• To date, usable quantities of carbon-sequestering cements have

yet to be produced.
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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

A real-life example:

• I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• The bridge piers were constructed of a cementitious blend that

was only 15 percent ASTM C150 portland cement; 85 percent of

the blend was ASTM C989 slag cement, a co-product of the iron

blast furnace (ACI 2009).

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Cementitious Materials:

B. NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE CEMENTS:

A real-life example:

• Not only was this a durable concrete with a low heat of

hydration, it was estimated to have an equivalent CO2 footprint

of 85 lbs of CO2 per yd3 (50.4 kg/m3) compared to 527 lbs

CO2/yd3 (312.7 kg/m3) for a typical 6-sack (564 lbs

cement/yd3 [334.6 kg/m3]) concrete mixture.

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Cementitious Materials:

C. ECO-FRIENDLY CEMENTS FOR CONCRETE MIXTURES:

• Capable of reducing the amount of greenhouse gas (CO2)

emissions associated with their production,

• Also capable of sequestering and using additional CO2 as part of

the curing/hardening process that concrete mixtures undergo.

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Cementitious Materials:

C. ECO-FRIENDLY CEMENTS FOR CONCRETE MIXTURES:

• Eco-Cement is a brand-name for a type of cement that blends

reactive magnesia, conventional hydraulic cement, and pozzolans

and industrial by-products to reduce the environmental impacts.

• Typically about half of the traditional cement raw materials are

replaced with ash and other solid waste by-products.

• The resultant product absorbs CO2, with absorption varying

with the degree of porosity and the amount of magnesia

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Cementitious Materials:

C. ECO-FRIENDLY CEMENTS FOR CONCRETE MIXTURES:

• Moreover, the reactive magnesia in Eco-Cement uses a lower kiln

temperature (about 750 o C [1382 °F]), whereas conventional PCC

requires a kiln temperature of around 1450 o C [2642 °F]

• Eco-Cement has the following characteristics (FHWA 2005):-

 Rapid hardening, similar to high-early-strength cement.

 Short initial setting time (approximately 20 to 40 minutes).

 Handling time that can be adjusted to suit particular applications.

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Cementitious Materials:

D. ENERGETICALLY MODIFIED CEMENT:

• Produced through a patented process of high intensive

grinding of Portland cement together with pozzolans .

• By intensively grinding and activating the cement with the

pozzolans, the surfaces of the pozzolans are activated, which

creates a network of sub-microcracks, microdefects, and

dislocations in the particles that allow deeper water penetration,

thereby increasing the binding capacity of the cement .

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Cementitious Materials:

D. ENERGETICALLY MODIFIED CEMENT:

• This not only helps increase the rate of strength gain (which can

be a problem with traditional blended cements) but also

translates into lower cement requirements, which means less

energy usage and suggests improved longevity and durability.