CEMENTITIOUS MATERIAL AND W/CM REQUIREMNTS AND LIMITATIONS FOR

CONCRETE

1. Industry standards seldom include a minimum cement or cementitious material.

There is no requirement for minimum cementitious materials content in ACI 318-14.
However ACI 301-10 has few requirements in this regard as follows:
a. Floor Slabs.
b. In mass concreting use the minimum cementitious material content to attain
required strength, desired durability and properties.

2. Historically the basis for this specification requirement of limiting cementitious

materials are; when concrete was proportioned with only portland cement, a minimum
cement content was commonly specified to ensure that the strength and durability
requirements were met. The perception still remains that some minimum cement content
is required to ensure durability, even though there is now an adequate under-standing
that using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) is an essential method for
improving most properties of concrete related to durability. Sometimes, the specified
cement content is an implicit control on the quantity of SCMs.
Wasserman et al. (2009) identified three possible reasons for specifying a minimum
cementitious content:
a. It provides assurance that a low water-cementitious materials ratio (w/cm) is
attained, even if good control of the mixing water content is not exercised.
b. It ensures there is enough paste to fill the voids between the aggregates and
provide adequate workability.
c. It offers corrosion protection by chemically binding the chlorides and CO2 that
penetrate the concrete.
Wasserman et al. (2009) and Dhir et al. (2003) reported that at any given w/cm,
increasing cement contents lead to similar compressive strengths and carbonation rates,
but higher absorption and chloride penetration. A mixture with higher cement content had
increased chloride thresholds to initiate corrosion but this benefit was offset by higher
chloride penetration.
Dhir et al. (2003) reported that for mixtures with similar w/cm values, increasing cement
contents led to similar flexural strengths, moduli of elasticity, and levels of deicer salt
scaling. However, in-creasing cement contents led to reduced sulfate resistance,
increased chloride diffusion, greater air permeability, and higher length change due to
shrinkage.
Obla (2012) and Yurdakul (2010) looked at a broader range of cementitious materials
contents and found that increasing cement content at a given w/cm did not result in higher
strength. With increasing cement contents, concrete resistance to chloride penetration
was reduced and shrinkage increased.
These above studies concluded that the minimum cementitious materials content
should not be specified for concrete durability.

3. Limiting the cementitious material can be restrictive while proportionating concrete.

Specifying cement content will have following impacts:
a. May be much higher than the amount needed to meet the performance
requirements.
b. Can impact the ability to place and finish the mixture in some applications.
c. Can increase the paste volume in the mixture, increasing potential for cracking
due to plastic or drying shrinkage and temperature effects.
d. Can increase the alkali content in the mixture and cause an alkali aggregate
reaction problem.
e. May result in a mixture that fails to achieve expected and unstated durability
objectives.
f. Is not supportive of sustainable construction.
g. Places competitive bids that support quality and performance at a
disadvantage.

4. Alternative of specifying cementitious material limits is requirement of the time as

it is already applicable in rest of the world. This can be achieved as described:
a. Limits on content of cement or cementitious materials should not imposed for
concrete mixtures.
b. Specify the performance requirements for the project, there is no technical
basis for specifying cement content if the performance requirements are
defined (NRMCA).
c. Invoke the durability requirements of ACI 318-14, by specifying w/cm and
appropriate compressive strength, and other requirements when applicable
(NRMCA).
d. Consider requiring of successful past field history as an alternative to specifying
the cement content.
e. Specify an appropriate compressive strength rather than a minimum
cementitious materials content if a low w/cm is required, as compressive
strength is a better indicator of w/cm.
 f. If the implicit purpose is to ensure improved quality, require and review the
quality plan of the producer and contractor.

5. These alternative requirements stated above can benefit the project;

a. Specifying compressive strength that is consistent with the required w/cm for
durability provides better assurance for durable concrete than specifying
cement content. In contrast, specifying a minimum cementitious materials
content does not ensure a low w/cm or improved durability. In fact, such a
specification benefits entities that have not made investments in quality and
provides no incentive to optimize mixtures for performance.
b. A survey of the ready mixed concrete industry (Obla 2014) revealed that the
average cementitious material content used in a cubic meter of concrete is
about 59 kg/m3 more than that required to meet the strength requirement.
This represents a waste of resources and is not supportive of sustainable
construction. Mixtures with lower cementitious materials content can be
proportioned and this can lead to improved workability and durability as well
as reduced potential for cracking.

6. Effect of water to cementitious material ratio (w/cm) and other

materials/factors on selection of cement content are extensively studied and are
concluded as:

a. ACI 211.4 states “Many researchers have concluded that the single most
important variable in achieving high-strength concrete is the water
cementitious material ratio (w/cm).”
b. A common misconception is that the slump is a measure of amount of the
water in the mixture. Various chemical admixtures are used to increase slump
and very high slumps are possible with low w/cement ratio concrete mixtures.
The space originally occupied by the mixing water is filled up with product
(paste), resulting from cement hydration. For strong and durable concrete this
space should be minimized by time. Therefore it is recommends to use low
w/cm (ACI 224R and NRMCA).
c. For a given job mix, strength is governed to a large extent by water-cement
ratio and is first criterion for producing concrete of good quality. It is the ratio
of the weight of water to the weight of cement used in concrete. For a particular
concrete mixture, decreasing the water-cement ratio will increase strength,
reduce permeability, increase durability, improve bond between aggregate
and the paste and with reinforcing steel, reduce the potential for volume
changes, like shrinkage which causes cracking. Increasing the quantity of
 water relative to amount of cement is analogous to diluting of glue. This will
weaken the paste and make it more porous which allows water and deleterious
material from outside the concrete mass to permeate though it. Increase in
cement content with increasing w/c has no effect on strength and in fact it is
the major cause of drying shrinkage and volume change (NRMCA, ACI 214R
and ACI 212.4R).
Strength will remain same for two job mix designs as given below:-
W/C 0.38 cement 400 Kg.
W/C 0.48 cement 500 Kg.
d. Maximum aggregate size is 20 mm and it is key factor in strength gain, lesser
it is, lower will be the strength. The most economical concrete will have
maximum possible space occupied by the maximum sized aggregate, since it
requires no cement in space filled by aggregates and they need less water for
same slump as the mortar fractions in these mixtures is less, resulting in higher
strength (NRMCA and ACI 212.4R).
e. Use of F or G Type HRWRA increase slump and strength by decreasing water
and cement content, thus reducing temperature rise and volume changes, due
to extra water and cement. Therefore they permit use of less cement, with
increased strength and workability (ACI 212.4R).
f. Usually Type I Portland cements are used, which are not suitable for mass
concreting, especially in hot weather conditions. Selection of cement is also a
contributing factor in strength reduction even if we use more quantity of
cement. Moreover if cement content is above 400 kg, inert material (M.S, PFA,
GGBS) are added as per specifications to overcome heat of hydration and
gain durability and steady strengths (NRMCA). For Mass Concreting ACI 301
Recommends “Use moderate heat of hydration Portland cement (Type 2),
blended hydraulic cement with moderate or low heat of hydration properties,
or ordinary portland cement (Type 1) with PFA, pozzolan, or ground-
granulated blast-furnace slag (SCMs)”.
g. Most of developed countries have restricted use of high quantity of ordinary
portland cement. As per QCS and ARAMCO standards “Cementitious
contents in excess of 400 kg/m3 shall not be used unless special consideration
has been given to the effect for heat of hydration and reduce thermal stress in
the concrete. The maximum cementitious content shall not exceed 500kg/m³
of concrete”.

h. ACI 308 states “that the duration of wet curing required to bring pastes of
different w/c to an equivalent permeability varied, from 3 days for low w/c, to 1
year for high w/c (Powers, Copeland, and Mann). The duration of curing is
sensitive to the w/c of the pastes because a lower w/c results in closer initial
spacing of the cement particles, requiring less hydration to fill inter particle
spaces with hydration products”.