18-01-2022

BUILDING MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

UNIT 3

Concrete: Manufacture and defects

Civil Engineering Department

3rd Semester

Defects of concrete
 Cracks:
o Cracks in concrete may originate from one or more of the following causes.
o Such as (a) excess water
o (b) early loss of water
o (c) alkali aggregate reaction
o (d) corrosion of embedded steel (Reinforcement)
o (e) freezing and thawing of concrete.

1
 18-01-2022

Defects of concrete
 Sulphate deterioration:
o It is mainly caused by the soil containing sulphates or by sulphate water.
o Sulfate corrosion is one of the most important factors responsible for the performance degradation of
concrete materials.

2
 18-01-2022

Defects of concrete
 Efflorescence:
o It is the appearance of fluffy white patches on the surface of concrete members.
o It is caused due to the use of poorly washed aggregates and salty water in making concrete.

3
 18-01-2022

Defects of concrete
 Scaling:
o Scaling is the local flaking or peeling away of the near-surface portion of hardened concrete or mortar.
o It is primarily a physical action created by hydraulic pressures from repeated cycles of water freezing within the concrete.

4
 18-01-2022

Defects of concrete
 Spalling:
o A spall is defined as flakes of material that are broken off of a larger solid body.
o Concrete spalling typically begins when the steel reinforcing embedded within the concrete member rusts.
o These expansive forces can cause the concrete to delaminate or to crack, spall, and break off.

Defects of concrete
 Blistering:
o Blisters may form on the surface of fresh concrete when either bubbles of entrapped air or bleed water migrate
through the concrete and become trapped under the surface, which has been sealed prematurely during the finishing
operations.

5
 18-01-2022

Defects of concrete
 Segregation:
o It usually implies separation of
o (a) coarse aggregate from fine aggregate, (b) paste from coarse aggregate, or (c) water from the mix and the
ingredients of the fresh concrete.
o Segregation mainly occurs in dry non-sticky concrete mixes.
o The causes of segregation are
o (i) dropping concrete from heights,
o (ii) badly designed mixes,
o (iii) concrete carried over long distances through pumping, belt conveyor system etc.,
o (iv) over vibrations, and extra tamping during concrete finishing.

6
 18-01-2022

Defects of concrete
 Bleeding:
o It is defined as flow of mixing water to the surface from freshly placed concrete.
o It is caused usually due to excessive vibrations imparted to concrete to achieve full compaction.
o The force of gravity tends to pull the heavy solid particles downward; the lighter water being displaced upward.
o This upward migration of water is known as bleeding.
o It can be reduced by uniform mixing and using of well ground cement, air entraining agents, dispersing agents
o It is a particular form of segregation in which some of the water comes out on the surface of concrete.

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Batching or measurement of materials:
o For good quality concrete a proper and accurate quantity of all the ingredients should be used.
o The aggregates, cement and water should be measured with an accuracy of ± 3 per cent of batch quantity.
o There are two prevalent methods of batching materials, the volume batching and the weigh batching.
o Volume batching is generally recommended for small jobs only.
o Weigh batching is used for all important works.

7
 18-01-2022

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Mixing of materials:
o The object of mixing is to make the concrete mass homogeneous and uniform in color and consistency.
o All the aggregate particles should have a coat of cement paste
o All the ingredients of the concrete should blend into a uniform mass.
o The mixing is done either by hand or by machine called mixer.
o Hand mixing is used for small jobs.
o For quality works mixing is carried out by machine.

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Transporting:
o Concrete should be transported to the place of deposition at the earliest without the loss of homogeneity
obtained at the time of mixing.
o A maximum of 2 hours from the time of mixing is permitted if trucks with agitator and 1 hour if trucks
without agitators are used for transporting concrete.
o Also it should be ensured that segregation does not take place during transportation and placement.
o Some of the means or methods of transporting concrete are (a) mortar pan, (b) wheel barrow, (c) chutes,
(d) dumper, (e) bucket and rope way, (f) belt conveyor, (g) pumping etc.

8
18-01-2022

9
 18-01-2022

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Placing: It is putting the concrete at the desired point of construction.
o To achieve quality concrete it should be placed with utmost care securing the homogeneity achieved during
mixing and the avoidance of segregation in transporting.
o For dry mixes in hot weather delay of half to one hour is allowed whereas for wet mixes in cold weather it
may be several hours.

10
 18-01-2022

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Compacting:
o After concrete is placed at the desired location, the next step in the process of
concrete production is its compaction.
o Compaction consolidates fresh concrete within the moulds or frameworks and
around embedded parts and reinforcement steel.
o Considerable quantity of air is entrapped in concrete during its production and
there is possible partial segregation also.
o Both of these adversely affect the quality of concrete.
o Compaction of the concrete is the process to get rid of the entrapped air and voids,
elimination of segregation occurred and to form a homogeneous dense mass.
o Compaction is done either manually by hand or mechanically by using vibrator.

11
18-01-2022

12
 18-01-2022

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Curing:
o Cement gains strength and hardness because of the chemical action between cement and water.
o This chemical reaction requires moisture, favourable temperature and time referred to as the curing period.
o Curing of freshly placed concrete is very important for optimum strength and durability.
o As such sufficient water should be made available to concrete to allow it to gain full strength.
o The process of keeping concrete damp for this purpose is known as curing.
o Its object is to prevent the loss of moisture from concrete due to evaporation or any other reason, supply additional
moisture or heat and moisture to accelerate the gain of strength.
o Curing must be done for at least three weeks and in no case for less than ten days.
o There are various ways of curing such as (a) water curing, (b) steam curing, (c) electrical curing (d) chemical curing.

13
18-01-2022

14
 18-01-2022

Various stages in manufacturing of cement concrete

 Finishing:
o Concrete is basically used because of its high compressive strength.
o However, the finish of the ultimate product is not that pleasant.
o Also the concrete surface needs to be protected from the action of rain, sunlight and other external factors.
o In past couple of decades’ efforts have been made to develop surface finishes to give a better appearance to
concrete surfaces.
o Common types of finishes are: Plastering, whitewashing, distempering, paints etc.

15
 18-01-2022

End

16