BUILDING

MATERIALS and
CONSTRUCTION I

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❑ This section describes the basic materials used in building
construction and discusses their common applications.

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❑ Factors need to be considered when selecting a material
for a specific use are:
I. Economic factors; Manufacturing cost, transportation,
maintenance, etc.
II. Properties; Ability to accept load(stress- strain)as
required, weight, thermal expansion, etc.
III. Durability
IV. Production & Construction; Availability of material &
ability to fabricate into desired shapes
Iv. Aesthetic or Appearance

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❖ Some of the criteria on which the materials can be classified are
as under:
Based on chemical composition
I. Organic materials: are those which have carbon as the basic
element. Timber, bitumen, plastics, etc.
II. Inorganic materials: are metals, alloys, calcareous,
salicaceous and argillaceous materials. Iron, steel, lime, sand
and clay are some of the inorganic materials.
Based on their metallic nature
I. Non-metallic: Cementing materials, concrete, timber, stones,
plastics, ceramics, etc.
II. Metallic:
• Ferrous: Wrought Iron, Cast iron, steel
• Non ferrous: Aluminum, copper, lead, zinc

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❖ Based on their physical nature; Solids, Liquids and Gas
❖ Based on their mode of manufacture
A. Naturally occurring materials: are those which are available in the nature and
need to be extracted/recovered and processed. E.g. Stones, sand, timber, etc.
B. Industrially produced materials: are those which can only be manufactured,
by physical, chemical or/and mechanical means in the industry. E.g. Cement, steel,
plastics, etc.
C. Materials produced at the construction site: materials not available in nature
but produced at the construction site. E.g. concrete, mortar, etc.
❖ Based on use of materials
Binding materials: are those materials which helps two materials to bind or/and
bond. E.g. Cement, lime, bitumen, etc.
Building materials: are those which help in raising a structure/building. E.g.
Bricks, stones, concrete, etc.
Finishing materials: are those which are used for final finishing of the surface.
E.g. ceramics, paints, etc.
Insulating materials: are those which are used for insulating the buildings, may it
be thermal insulation or acoustic insulation.
E.g. glass, wool, asbestos sheets, etc.

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Cementitious materials include the many products that
are mixed with either water or some other liquid or
both to form a cementing paste that may be formed or
molded while plastic but will set into a rigid shape.
When sand is added to the paste, mortar is formed. A
combination of coarse and fine aggregate (sand) added
to the paste forms concrete.

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What is cement?
A finely ground inorganic material which has cohesive&
adhesive properties; able to bind two or more materials together
into a solid mass.
Cohesion is the tendency of a material to maintain its integrity
without separating or rupturing within itself when subject to
external forces.
Adhesion is the tendency of a material to bond to another
material.
Cement when mixed with water form a paste which sets
and harden by means of hydration reactions, and which
after hardening retain its strength and stability even under
water.

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 Two minor compounds [gypsum (CaSO4.
2H2O) and magnesia (MgO)] constitute the
raw materials.
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Its uses include reinforced-concrete buildings,
pavements, sidewalls, bridges, railings, tanks, reservoirs,
floors, curbs, culverts, and retaining walls.

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Type III cement, however, has high heat evolution
and therefore should not be used in large masses.
Because of the higher C3A content, Type III
cement also has poor sulfate resistance.

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Type V, sulfate-resisting cement, is
specified where there is extensive
exposure to sulfates.
Typical applications include hydraulic
structures exposed to water with
high alkali content and structures
subjected to seawater exposure.
The sulfate resistance of Type V
cement is achieved by reducing the
C3A content to a minimum since that
compound is most susceptible to
sulfate attack.

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Portland-Pozzolana Cement (PPC)
The most important effects accompanying the use of PPC
in Concrete Construction Work are:
◦ Improves workability (Easy to handle)
◦ No increase in dry shrinkage (Less setting time)
◦ Improves resistance to sulfate attack
etc.(Corrosion Resistance)

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 FIELD TESTING OF CEMENT
1. Visual inspection
 A sample of cement taken from the bag showing bright gray
colour (as specified by the manufacturer) gives an
indication of freshness & purity of cement.
2. Adulteration
 Place about 100 grams of cement on a steel plate and heat it
for about 20 minutes. No change in color is again an
indication of unadulterated cement.
 Shake a small quantity of cement in glass jar ½ full of water
and allow it to settle. Adulterated particles (coal, ash etc) if
any, shall float on the surface.

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A. Physical Properties
1.1 Fineness
1.2 Setting time
1.3 Soundness
1.4 Compressive strength
1.5 Heat of Hydration
B. Chemical Properties

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 It is about the grinding of cement and affects the rate
of hydration: the finer the cement, the faster the
strength development takes place.
 The fineness of cement can be measured in Blain,s
Apparatus.
 The Ethiopian Standard specifies the fineness of
grinding should not be less than 2250 cm2/gm for OPC
and 2500 cm2/gm for sulfate resisting Portland cement
by Blaine air permeability method.

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❖ Setting is the term used to describe the stiffening of
the cement paste.
❖ setting refers to a change from a fluid to a rigid
stage.
❖ Some cement set quickly, within a few minutes others
may take comparatively longer time.
❖ There are two types of setting times
1. Initial setting time
2. final setting time

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❑ The setting times of cement are measure using the Vicat
apparatus with different penetration attachments.
❑ Ethiopian standard recommends that the initial setting
time for cement not be less than 45 minutes and the
final setting time not to exceed 10 hours.

Soundness:
It is the ability of a hardened cement paste to retain its
volume after setting.
To determine the soundness of cement the Le Chatelier
test is used.

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Compressive strength
 Strength tests are not made on a neat cement paste because of difficulties of
molding and testing with a consequent large variability of test results.
 Strength of cement can be determined by two methods i.e. mortar test and
concrete test.
In the mortar test:
 Cement-sand mortar is 1:3 used.

 The sand is standard sand (of single size).

 water/ cement ratio corresponds to 0.40 by mass.

 A standard procedure, prescribed by British standard is followed in mixing

 70.7mm cubes are made using a vibrating table with a frequency of 200Hz
applied for two minutes.
 The cubes are remolded after 24 hours and further cured in water until
tested in a wet-surface condition.

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In the concrete test:
 Three water/cement ratio’s can be used 0.60, 0.55 and 0.45, depending on
the type of cement.
 Batches of 100mm cubes are made by hand in prescribed manner, the
temperature and humidity conditions of the mixing room, curing chamber,
testing room, and the temperature of the water curing tank are specified.
 The compressive strength of mortar & concrete cubes has to confirm to the
following according to Ethiopian standard. For Ordinary Portland cement:
3 days : not less than 8N/mm2 (8MPa)
7 days : not less than 14N/mm2 (14MPa)

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B. CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
❖ Chemical tests are conducted in order to check the
quality of the product.
❖ The results of chemical tests are reported in terms of
oxides, which are used to calculate the compound
composition by Bogue’s method.
❖ The four major oxides are important in Bogue’s
method respectively calcium oxide (CaO), Silicon
dioxide (SiO2), aluminum oxide (Al203) and ferric
oxide (Fe2O3).

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STORAGE OF CEMENT

❑ At all stages up to the time of use, cement must be kept

dry so as to prevent or minimize deterioration from the
effects of moisture, atmospheric humidity and
carbonation.
❑ Bags of cement should be stacked close together, so as
to restrict the circulation of air around them.
❑ Cement which is four months old should be classified
as aged and be restricted before use.

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Aggregate is a broad encompassing boulders,
cobbles, crushed stone, gravel, air cooled blast
furnace slag, native and manufactured sands,
and manufactured and natural lightweight
aggregates. Aggregates may be further
described by their respective sizes.

NORMAL-WEIGHT AGGREGATES
These typically have specific gravities between
2.0 and 3.0. They are usually distinguished by
size as follows:
Boulders Larger than 6 inch
Cobbles 6 to 3 inch
Coarse aggregate 3 inch to No. 4 sieve
Fine aggregate No. 4 sieve to No. 200 sieve
Mineral filler Material passing No. 200 sieve

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The size of aggregate used in concrete range
from few cm or more down to few microns.
They are classified as
➢ fine aggregate
➢ coarse aggregate and
➢ all in aggregate.

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➢ It is the aggregate which passes through 4.75 mm IS
sieve.
➢ The fine aggregate may be one of the following types:
Natural sand i.e., from natural disintegration of rocks.
▪ Crushed stone sand i.e., produced by crushing hard
stones.
▪ Crushed gravel sand i.e., produced by crushing natural
gravels.
▪ According to size fine aggregate may be described as
coarse, medium and fine sands.

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Coarse Aggregate:
✓ The aggregate most of which are retained on the
4.75mm IS sieve & it may be of
 Crushed gravel
 Uncrushed gravel
 Partially crushed gravel
✓ Angular type of coarse aggregate only used in building
works.
All in Aggregate:
✓ Sometimes combined aggregate are available in nature
comprising different fractions of fine and coarse
aggregate called all in aggregate.
✓ They are generally used for many high quality concrete.

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Rounded Aggregate
❑ The aggregate with round particles has minimum voids
ranging from 32-33%.
❑ It gives minimum ratio of surface area to volume thus
requiring minimum cement paste to make good concrete.
❑ The only disadvantage is that the interlocking between its
particles is less and hence the development of bond is poor,
making it unsuitable for high strength concrete and pavements.
Irregular or Partly Rounded Aggregate
❑ The aggregate having partly rounded particles have higher
percentage of voids ranging from 35-38.
❑ It requires more cement paste for a given workability.
❑ Interlocking of particles is better than that of round aggregate,
is adequate for high strength concrete.

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Angular aggregate:
▪ The aggregates with sharp angular and round particles have a
maximum percentage of voids ranging from 38-40.
▪ Interlocking is good and thereby avoids good bond.
▪ The aggregate requires more cement paste to make workable
concrete of high strength than that required by rounded
particles.
▪ It is suitable for high strength concrete and payments subjected
to tension.
Flaky and elongated aggregates:
▪ The aggregate is termed flaky its least dimension of the
aggregate is less than 3/5th of its mean dimension.
▪ Mean dimension of the aggregate is the average of the sieve
sizes through which the particles pass and retained respectively.
▪ The particle is set to be elongated when its greatest dimension is
greater than 9/5th of its mean dimension.

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Normal weight aggregate
➢ These are commonly used i.e. sands and gravels;
crushed rocks such as granite, quartz, etc.
➢ They have specific gravities between 2.5 and 2.7
produce concrete with unit weight ranging from
23KN/m3 - 26 KN/m3 .
➢ Crushing strength at 28 days is between 15-40 MPa.

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 They have specific gravities between ranging from 2.8-2.9 and
unit weight from 28-29 KN/m3 such as magnetite(Fe3O4),
barites(BaSO4) and scrap iron are used in the manufacture of
heavy weight concrete which is more effective as a radiation
shield.
 Concrete having unit weight of about 30 KN/m3 , 36 KN/m3, and
57 KN/m3 can be produced by using magnetite, barite and scrap
iron.
 The compressive strength of these concrete is of the order of 20-
21MPa.
 This cement aggregate ratio varies from 1:5-1:9 with water
cement ratio between 0.5-0.65.
 Main disadvantage is that they are not suitable graded and
therefore difficult to have adequate workability without
segregation.

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 They have unit weight up to 12KN/m3 .
 They are used to manufacture the structural concrete
and masonry blocks for reduction of self weight of
the structure.
 They provide better thermal insulation and improved
fire resistance.
 It has low density and specifications limit the unit
weight to 12 KN/m3 for fine aggregate and 10 KN/m3
for coarse aggregate.
 The other characteristics are reduced workability due
to rough surface texture, lower tensile strength,
lower modulus of elasticity, higher creep and
shrinkage and tendency to segregate also.

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❑ The acceptability of a coarse or fine aggregate for use in
concrete or mortar is judged by many properties including
gradation, amount of fine material passing the No. 200 sieve,
hardness, soundness, particle shape, volume stability,
potential alkali reactivity, resistance to freezing and thawing,
and organic impurities.
❑ For aggregates used in general building construction, property
limits are provided in ASTM C33, ‘‘Specification for Concrete
Aggregates,’’ C637, ‘‘Specification for Aggregates for
Radiation-Shielding Concrete,’’ and C330, ‘‘Specification for
Lightweight Aggregates for Structural Concrete.’’ For other
types of construction, such as highways and airports,
standards written by various trade or governmental
organizations are available.

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❑ Admixtures or chemicals are added along the
ingredients of concrete. The effect of admixture depend
on the brand of cement, grading of aggregate, mix
proportion and richness of mix.
❑ Admixtures are anything other than Portland cement,
water, and aggregates that are added to a concrete mix
to modify its properties. Included in this definition are
chemical admixtures (ASTM C494 and C260),
mineral admixtures such as fly ash (C618) and silica
fume, corrosion inhibitors, colors, fibers, and
miscellaneous (pumping aids, damp proofing, gas-
forming, permeability-reducing agents).
Over decades, attempts have been made to obtain
concrete with certain desired characteristics such as
high compressive strength, high workability, and high
performance and durability parameters to meet the
requirement of complexity of modern structures.
▪ To improve workability of fresh concrete.
▪ To improve durability by entrainment of air.
▪ To reduce the water required.
▪ To improve wear resistance (hardness).
▪ To reduce bleeding.
▪ To accelerate setting & hardening & thus to produce
high early strength.
▪ To aid curing.
▪ To impart water repellent / water proofing property.
• To cause dispersion of the cement particles when
mixed with water
• To offset / reduce shrinkage during setting & hardening
• To aerate mortar / concrete to produce a light-weight
product
• To impart colour to concrete

• To offset or reduce some chemical reaction

• To reduce the evolution of heat

 ❑ Admixtures are anything other than Portland cement,
water, and aggregates that are added to a concrete mix to
modify its properties. Included in this definition are
chemical admixtures (ASTM C494 and C260),
mineral admixtures such as fly ash (C618) and silica
fume, corrosion inhibitors, colors, fibers, and
miscellaneous (pumping aids, damp proofing, gas-
forming, permeability-reducing agents).
1. Plasticizers.
2. Super plasticizers.
3. Accelerators.
4. Set Retarders.
5. Air Entrained Admixtures.
 They achieve a higher strength by decreasing the water
cement ratio at the same workability as an admixture free
mix.
 To increase the workability so as to ease placing in
accessible locations.
 Addition of plasticizer will improve the desirable qualities
demanded for plastic concrete.
 To reduce the heat of hydration in mass concrete.
 Calcium, Sodium, Ammonium and lignosulphonic acids
are mostly used in plasticizer.
 Quantity used 0.1%-0.4% by weight of cement.
 It is constitute relatively a new and improved form of
plasticizers. These are chemically different from
conventional plasticizers.
 Super plasticizer permit reduction of water up to 30%
without reduction in workability.
 It is high range water reducer.
 It is used for production of flowing, self levelling, self
compacting and for production of high strength and
high performance of concrete.
 Accelerator added in concrete to get the early in
strength.
 Less period of curing is needed.
 Calcium chloride is commonly used in accelerator.
 Availability of such accelerator for using under water
concrete work.
 This material could be used in cold environment
condition up to 600c.
The most commonly used admixtures for agricultural
concrete.
Pproduce microscopic air bubbles throughout the concrete.
Entrained air bubbles:
 Improve the durability of concrete exposed to
moisture and freeze/thaw action.
 Improve resistance to scaling from deicers and
corrosive agents such as manure or silage.
❖ These create numerous microscopic air spaces within
concrete to protect it from degradation due to repeated
freezing and thawing or exposure to aggressive chemicals.
For concrete exposed to repeated cycles of freezing and
thawing, the air gaps provide room for expansion of external
and internal water, which otherwise would damage the
concrete. Since air-entrained concrete bleeds to a lesser
extent than non-air-entrained, there are fewer capillaries
extending from the concrete matrix to the surface. Therefore,
there are fewer avenues available for ingress of aggressive
chemicals into the concrete.
❖ The ‘‘Standard Specification for Air-Entraining Admixtures
for Concrete,’’ ASTM C260, covers materials for use of air-
entraining admixtures to be added to concrete in the field.

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 Retarders are important type of admixture often used in the ready
mix concrete industry.
 The function of retarder is to delay or extend the setting time of
cement paste in concrete. These are helpful for concrete that has to
be transported to long distance, and helpful in placing the concrete
at high temperatures.
 The retarder are used in consolidating large number of pours
without the formation of cold joints and in grouting oil wells.
 Calcium sulphate is the commonly used in retarder.
 Other admixture used as retarders are lignosulphonic acids and their
salts, hydroxylates, carboxylic acid and their salts.
 These admixtures which increase the compressive strength by 10 to
20%.
THANK YOU!

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