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A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY
OF CEMENT

ECS268: STRUCTURAL & i. Objective

MATERIAL LABORATORY

LAB 4: STANDARD CONSISTENCY,

SETTING TIME & FINENESS OF The objective of the test is to determine the
CEMENT standard consistency of cement paste.

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A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY

OF CEMENT OF CEMENT
ii. Learning Outcomes iii. Theoretical Background

At the end of the laboratory activity, students would be
able to:
• Organize and conduct the standard consistency of
cement experiment
• Collect and analyse the data correctly.
• Work in a group to produce the technical report.
• Standard consistency determines the state
of fluidity of the cement paste. This test is to
find out the amount of water need to be
added to the cement to get a paste of normal
consistency. The paste of a certain standard
fluidity will be used to determine the water
content of the paste for setting time and
soundness test.

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A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY

OF CEMENT OF CEMENT
iv. Apparatus v. Procedures
• Vicat Apparatus Consist of Plunger 10 mm in Diameter The standard consistency of a cement paste (the amount of
• Vicat Mould water expressed as percentage by weight of the dry cement)
which permits the vicat plunger to penetrate to a point 5 to 7
• Non-absorptive Square Base Plate mm from the bottom of the vicat mould when the cement
• Gauging Trowel paste is tested as described below :-
• Measuring Jar (100 to 200 mL), 1. For preparing one mould, weigh 400 gm of cement and
prepare a paste of cement with a weighed quantity of water
• Weighing Balance 25% by weight (100ml) taking care the time of gauging is
• Stop Watch between 3 to 5 minutes. The gauging time is counted from
the time of adding water to the dry cement until commencing
• Rubber Hand Glove.
to fill the mould. The usual range of value of the standard
consistency being between 26% and 33%.

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A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY

OF CEMENT OF CEMENT
v. Procedures (con’t) vi. Results & Analysis
2. Fill the vicat mould resting upon non-porous plate with this paste. The data is recorded for Standard Consistency as below:-
After completely filled the mould in one layer smoothen off the
surface of the paste by single movement of palm making it level
Description Reading
with the top of the mould. The mould may be slightly shaken to
expel air present in the paste. Weight of cement taken, W1 (g)
3. Place the test block on the non-porous resting plate. Under the
Weight of water added, W2 (g)
rod attached with the 10 mm plunger and lower the plunger
gently to touch the surface of the paste. Set the movable indicator Standard consistency of cement, P;
to the zero mark of the scale and quickly release allowing it to sink
into the paste. x 100%

4. Prepare the trial pastes with varying percentage of water

(Example at an interval of 4%, from the 1st trial and then at interval
of 1% and 0.25% between the percentage range determined by
Vicat Plunger Penetration from the Bottom :_____________ mm
the previous test) and tested as described above until the amount
of water necessary for making up the standard consistency as
defined is obtained.

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A) STANDARD CONSISTENCY B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT

OF CEMENT
vii. Discussion & Conclusion i. Objective
Discussion
The amount of water needed for standard consistency of the
cement and the factor effecting the standard consistency of the
cement. Different types of cement will have the different
standard consistency.

Conclusion
Determine the standard consistency of cement paste

The objective of the test is to determine the

initial and final setting time of cement.

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B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT

ii. Learning Outcomes iii. Theoretical Background

At the end of the laboratory activity, students would be
able to:
• Organize and conduct the setting time of cement
experiment
• Collect and analyse the data correctly.
• Work in a group to produce the technical report.
• The initial setting time is regarded as the time
elapsed between the moments that the water
is added to the cement, to the time that the
paste starts losing its plasticity.
• The final setting time is the time elapsed
between the moment the water is added to
the cement, and the time when the paste has
completely lost its plasticity.

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B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT

iv. Apparatus v. Procedures

• Vicat Apparatus Consist of vicat needle of 1.13 mm
1. Prepare a neat cement paste by gauging the cement with 0.85P
diameter and annular needle
water, where P is a standard consistency as determined earlier.
• Vicat Mould The gauging time is to be kept between 3 to 5 minutes. Start
• Non-absorptive Square Base Plate the stop watch at the instant when water is added to the cement.
• Gauging Trowel Fill the vicat mould. Slice and smooth off the surface of the paste
with trowel making it level with the top of mould.
• Measuring Jar (100 to 200 mL),
2. For the determination of initial setting time, place the paste
• Weighing Balance
confined in the mould and resting it on non-porous plate. Under
• Stop Watch the rod attached with the needle 1.13 mm in diameter and
• Rubber Hand Glove. lower the needle gently in contact with the surface of the paste
and quickly release, allowing it to penetrate into the paste.

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B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT

v. Procedures (con’t) vi. Results & Analysis

The data is recorded for Standard Consistency as below:-
3. Repeat this procedure until the needle fails to pierce the paste for
Time Reading Remarks
5 ± 1 mm measured from the bottom of the mould for interval (minutes)
5 minutes. The period elapsing between the times when water is
added to the cement and the time at which the needle fail to
pierce the paste by 5 ± 1 mm is the initial setting time.
4. For the determination of final setting time, replace the needle of
the vicat apparatus by the needle with an annular attachment.
The cement paste is considered finally set when upon applying
the needle gently to the surface of the paste, the needle Weight of water taken, (ml) = 0.85 P x weight of cement taken
penetrates to a depth of 0.5 mm (from top of the mould) but = ___________________________
the circular edge fails to make an imprint on the surface of the = ______________ ml
paste. In the event of scum forming on the surface of the cement
paste, use the underside of the cement paste for the The setting time for given cement sample are;
determination of final setting time. 1. Initial setting time of cement : ____________ (minutes)
2. Final setting time of cement : _____________ (minutes)

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B) SETTING TIME OF CEMENT C) FINENESS OF CEMENT

vii. Discussion & Conclusion i. Objective

Discussion
For Portland cement, the initial setting time should not be less
than 45 minutes and final setting should not be more than 10
hours. For rapid hardening Portland cement, initial setting time
should not be less than 5 minutes and final setting time should
not exceed 30 minutes. The setting time is influenced by
temperature, humidity of air, kneading of paste and quantity of
gypsum in cement.
Conclusion
Identify the Initial and final setting time of cement and discuss The objective of the test is to determine the
the data obtained. fineness of a given sample of cement by
sieving through a 90µm BS sieve.

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C) FINENESS OF CEMENT C) FINENESS OF CEMENT

ii. Learning Outcomes iii. Theoretical Background

At the end of the laboratory activity, students would be
able to:
• Organize and conduct the fineness of cement
experiment
• Collect and analyse the data correctly.
• Work in a group to produce the technical report.
• The fineness of cement has an important bearing on
the rate of hydration and hence on the rate of gain of
strength and also on the rate of evolution of heat.
Finer cement offers a greater surface area for
hydration and hence the faster and greater the
development of strength. Increase in fineness of
cement is also found to increase the drying shrinkage
of concrete. Fineness of cement is tested either by
sieving or by determination of specific surface by air
permeability apparatus. Specific surface is the total
surface area of all the particles in one gram of cement.

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C) FINENESS OF CEMENT C) FINENESS OF CEMENT

iv. Apparatus v. Procedures

• Sieve 90 µm size with pan & sieve lid 1. Weigh accurately 100 g of cement and place it on a standard 90
µm BS sieve. Break down any air-set lumps in the cement sample
• Weighing Balance
with fingers.
• Bristle brush 2. While holding the sieve and pan in both hands, sieve with gentle
• Gauging Trowel wrist motion until most of the fine material has passed through
• Stop Watch and the residue looks fairly clean. This requires 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Empty the pan and wipe clean with a cloth. Replace the sieve in
the pan and remove the cover carefully. Return any coarse
material that had been caught in cover during tapping to the sieve.
4. Continuously sieve the sample in circular and vertical motion for
a period of 15 minutes.
5. Weigh the residue left on the sieve. As per BS code, the
percentage residue should not exceed 10%.

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C) FINENESS OF CEMENT C) FINENESS OF CEMENT

vi. Precaution vii. Results & Analysis

The data is recorded for Standard Consistency as below:-
1. Any air set lump in the sample should be broken down with
fingers, but do not rub on the sieve. It may lead to clogging of the Serial Weight of cement
sieve opening. Weight of residue (g) Fineness (%)
No. taken (g)
2. The sieve must be cleaned thoroughly before starting the
1.
experiment.
3. Care should be taken to ensure that no cement is spilled. After 2.
sieving all residue must be taken out carefully and weighed.
Average of Fineness
( )
Fineness 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 % = ( )
x 100

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C) FINENESS OF CEMENT C) FINENESS OF CEMENT

viii. Discussion
ix. Conclusion
This method only indicates the amount of cement retained on the sieve, and gives no information on the size of
grains smaller than 90 µm BS sieve. Attempts to use smaller sieve down 53 µm have generally been unsuccessful Determine the fineness of cement and discuss the factor
because of clogging of such extremely fine mesh. For this reason a test for fineness by determination of the specific
surface of cement was developed. The specific surface is expressed as the surface area in sq. cm/g or sq. m/kg. effecting the result.
The finer the cement, the more is the surface.
The British and American Standard Institutes laid down the following two method for finding the surface area;
i. Air permeability method.
ii. Wagners Turbidimeter method.
The first one is recommended in the Draft Malaysia standard specification for Portland Cement Part 2: Physical
Test. The objective of this test is to check the proper grinding of cement. During the manufacturing, the cement
must be properly ground to uniformly fine, otherwise the concrete made of it will be of poor workability and will
require large amount of mixing water. In such cases, the solid settle down even before initial setting of concrete and
water will appear on the top surface. This phenomena is called bleeding.
The standard cement should comply with the following conditions of fineness as per BS 12: Part 2: 1971;
a. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)
The residue by weigh on BS test sieve 90 µm should not exceed 10%
THANK YOU
b. Rapid Hardening Portland Cement
The residue by weigh on BS test sieve 90 µm should not exceed 5%

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