TESTING OF CEMENTMETHODS OF TESTING * FIELD TESTING * LABORATORY TESTING Page 2FIELD TEST = Open the bag and take a good look at the cement, hen it should not contain any visible lumps. ‘olour of cement should be greenish grey. " Should get cool feeling when thrusted. ™ When we touch the cement, it should give a smooth ¬ a gritty feeling. = When we throw the cement on a bucket full of water before it sinks the particles should flow. = When we make a stiff paste of cement & cut it with sharp edges & kept on a glass plate under water there wont be any disturbance to the shape& should get strength after 24hours. Page 3LABORATORY TESTS > Fineness test » Standard consistency test > Setting time test » Strength test > Soundness test » Heat of hydration test > : ea Chemical composition test Faged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. Large particle should have a size of 10micPeas.5Fineness of cement is tested in two ways. * By sieving. By determination specific surface by air permeabilit Page 6SIEVE TEST ‘Take correctly 100grams of cement on a pdard IS sieve No.9 weigh it. * This weight shall not exceed 10% for ordinary cement. * Sieve test is rarely used. * The weight of the residue should not exceed 10% for ordinary cement.STANDARD PERMEABILITY TEST Principle of air permeability method is in observing ime taken for a fixed quantity of air to flow igh compacted cement bed of specified dimension * 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. Page 8STATNDARD CONSISTENCY TEST The standard consistency of a cement paste is efined as that consistency which will permit \Vicat plunger having 10 mm diameter and ) mm length to penetrate to a depth of 33- 5 mm from the top of the mould. USE Used to find out the percentage of wate ‘equired to produce a cement paste of a standard consistency. his is also called normal consistency (CPNC). Vicat Apparatus Page 10“For first trial, take about 500gms of cement & ater of r%. 1 it in Vicat’s mould with in 3-5min. *After filling, 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 and quickly released. *Note the reading according to depth of penetration of the plunger. Page 11*Conduct trials continuously by taking different water cement ratios till the plunger penetrates for a depth of 33-35mm from top. This particular percentage is known as percentage of water required to produce cement paste of standard consistency. This is usually denoted as ‘P’. SUITABLE CONDITIONS: Conducted in a constant temperature of 27°#2°C. Constant Humidity 90%. Page 12SETTING TIME TEST An arbitraty division has been made for the setting time of cement as * Initial setting time * Final setting time. Page 13INITIAL SETTING TIME The time elapsed between the moment that the ‘water is added to the cement, to the time that the paste starts losing its plasticity. * Normally a minimum of 30min has maintained for mixing & handling operations. * It should not be less than 30min. Page 14FINAL SETTING TIME The time elapsed between the moment the ater is added to the cement, and the time when the paste has completely lost its plasticity and has attained sufficient firmness to resist certain definite pressure. ** It should not exceed 10hours. So that it is avoided from least vulnerable to damages from external activities. Page 15PROCEDURE: ** Vicat apparatus is used for finding the setting time “* Take 500gms of cement and add about 0.85p * The paste should be filled within 3-5 minutes. ** Initial and final setting time is noted. Page 16STRENGTH TEST This is the most important of all Properties of hardened cement. ** Due to excessive shrinkage and cracking the strength tests are not made on neat cement paste. ** Standard sand is used for finding the strength of cement. Page 17“* Take sand and cement (i.e., 1:3 ratio of cement d sand) Mix them for Imin, then add water of antity(P/4)+3.0%. Mix three ingredients thoroughly until the mixture is of uniform colour. * The time of mixing should not be<3min and >4min.Then the mortar is filled into a cube mould of 7.06cm. Compact the mortar. * Keep the compacted cube in the mould at a temperature of 27°C + 2°C and at least 90 per cent relative humidity for 24 hours. * After 24hours the cubes are removed & immersed in clean fresh water until taken for testing. Page 18SOUNDNESS TEST “* It is very important that the cement after setting all not undergo any appreciable change of ume. This test is to ensure that the cement does not show any subsequent expansions. “* The unsoundness in cement is due to the presence of excess of lime combined with acidic oxide at the kiln. ** This is due to high proportion of magnesia & calcium sulphate. ** Therefore magnesia content in cement is limited to 6%. Page 19Som: Split not more than 0$ mm Cis plates Page 20HEAT OF HYDRATION nt with water is an exothermic reaction at of hydration will be found out using thermos flask * About 120 calories of heat is generated in the hydration of 1 gm of cement ** Temperature rise of about 50°C is observed and this causes serious expansion of the body of dam. Page 21To avoid this : Lean mix puzzolanic cement Artificial cooling materials * incorporation of pipe system in the body of dam and applying cold brine solutions. Tests : ** To be carried out only in low heat cement ** vaccum flask method for short duration and adiabatic calorimeter for longer period * should not exceed 65 cal/gm at 7 days and should be less than 75 cal/gm at 28 days Page 22CHEMICAL COMPOSITION TEST o of percentage of lime to percentage of silica,alumina iron oxide when calculated by Cao-0.7803 2.8SiO 2 +1.2Al 2 O 3+0.65Fe 2 O 3 Should not be greater than 1.02 and not less than 0.66 This is called LIME SATURATION FACTOR PERCENT Page 23