Concrete Setting Time

26/01/2022, 20:15 What Is Concrete Setting?
- Maturix Smart Monitoring of Concrete Curing
(https://maturix.com)
Knowledge Center (https://maturix.com/category/knowledge-center/) > What Is Concrete Setting?
What Is Concrete Setting?

The concrete setting is defined by ASTM C125 as “the process, due to chemical reactions,
occurring after the addition of mixing water, that results in a gradual development of rigidity
of a cementitious mixture.” In other words, the concrete setting is the process that a concrete
mixture goes through from being a liquid mixture to gaining certain stiffness.
There are two crucial moments in the concrete setting process:
Initial setting time is the time at which the concrete mixture starts losing its plasticity.

This means that the liquid mixture will start to solidify, making it harder to handle.
Final setting time is the time at which the concrete mixture turns solid. At this point, the
 concrete mixture is able to hold a shape and trying to modify it will hurt its strength
development.
Why It Is Important to Know the

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26/01/2022, 20:15 What Is Concrete Setting? - Maturix Smart Monitoring of Concrete Curing
Setting
 Time
(https://maturix.com) The setting time might not seem important, but this can be very useful for many purposes.
The initial setting time tells you how much time you have from when you mix water with
cement until this will start solidifying. Knowing this helps you to plan when the concrete
should be mixed and how much time you have available for transporting and placing the
concrete. The final setting time indicates when the concrete has turned solid and is starting to
gain strength. After the final setting time, it is not recommended to do consolidating activities
as these will disturb the concrete’s strength development.
Ideally, you want the initial setting time to be long enough to transport the concrete and pour
it while it is still fluid. However, you do not want the initial setting time to be too long, as then
the concrete finishers and the rest of the crew will need to wait (sometimes up to 5 hours
(https://www.concreteconstruction.net/how-to/materials/the-cost-of-waiting_o)) until
the concrete is ready to be consolidated.
The same applies to the final setting time, where you want it to be long enough to be able to
finish the concrete, but not so long that the concrete takes forever to harden, as this prolongs
the project schedule.
When Does Concrete Setting Happen?

During the cement hydration process, the concrete mixture goes from a liquid to a solid-state.
This change does not happen suddenly, instead, it occurs in different phases:

The initial setting time of concrete, indicated in the graph above, occurs when the reaction
starts to gain speed and the heat emission increases at the end of the dormancy period.
During the third phase, the concrete starts gaining stiffness quickly and heat is released due to
the chemical reactions. A few hours after the beginning of phase 3, the concrete becomes
solid, marking the final setting time.
If you would like to read more about the cement hydration phases, these are explained in
more detail in our Cement Hydration (https://maturix.com/knowledge-center/what-is-
cement-hydration/) article.
Factors Affecting the Concrete Setting

Time
There are
different factors that can affect the setting times. This can be e.g. water/cement
ratio, temperature conditions, and admixtures.
Water/Cement Ratio
The water/cement ratio has a big impact on the setting time of your concrete and its overall
performance and quality.
Concrete mixes with lower water/cement ratios generally have faster setting times. However,
these may be harder to work with as they start hardening earlier so all the finishing
operations need to be done faster. On the other hand, concrete mixes with higher
water/cement ratios have slower setting times. This can be an advantage as you have more
time before the concrete starts hardening. However, too much water affects the final strength
of the concrete and may cause delays as the concrete will need more time before the concrete
finishers can start working on it.
Admixtures
Admixtures are substances added to the concrete mix that is used to alter one or more of the
concrete properties. There are two main types of admixtures that can be used to modify the
setting time: Accelerators and retarders. Accelerators can be used to increase the rate of
cement hydration, which will shorten the setting time. Retarders can be used to delay the
setting time of concrete, giving more time for concreting works.
Temperature
Temperature can have an effect on the setting times of concrete as this affects how fast the
phases in the cement hydration happen. If the temperature is high, the cement hydration
reactions will occur faster and the setting time will occur earlier. If the temperatures are low,
the cement hydration process will slow down and the setting time will happen later.
Smart, wireless
 systems such as Maturix can help you to monitor the temperature in your
concrete in different spots in the structure and allow you to access this information from
(https://maturix.com) anywhere, at any time. This will give you a clear picture of what is actually going on inside the
concrete.
How to Determine Concrete Setting

Times
It is important to understand that there are two types of tests related to setting time; cement
setting time and concrete setting time.
The cement setting time tests are relevant for cement manufacturers but are hard to use in
construction projects. This is because, for the tests for the cement setting times, only pure
cement and water are used neglecting the effect of aggregates and admixtures. Therefore, the
most relevant test to do is the concrete setting time. The standard procedure to do it is:
ASTM C403: Standard Test Method for Time of Setting of Concrete Mixtures by Penetration
Resistance. You can see the required materials, equipment, and test steps in this video
(https://vimeo.com/327043190).
Use Maturix To Monitor Concrete

Temperature and Strength
The reality
is that the concrete setting test is not widely used. This is because even if the
information it provides is interesting, there is normally not enough time or personnel to do it.
(https://maturix.com) So in many cases, a better solution will be to use something like Maturix. This system offers
the opportunity to:
Monitor the temperature and


strength development in real-time
Access the data remotely from your


phone or laptop
 Create automatic documentation
Schedule the operations more


efficiently
Visit the Strength (https://maturix.com/solution/strength-and-maturity-monitoring/)

and Temperature (https://maturix.com/solution/temperature-monitoring/) solution page
to learn more.
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26/01/2022, 20:15 What Is Concrete Setting?

- Maturix Smart Monitoring of Concrete Curing

What Is Concrete Setting?

There are two crucial moments in the concrete setting process:

Why It Is Important to Know the

When Does Concrete Setting Happen?

Factors Affecting the Concrete Setting

How to Determine Concrete Setting

Use Maturix To Monitor Concrete

Monitor the temperature and

Access the data remotely from your

 Create automatic documentation

Schedule the operations more

Visit the Strength (https://maturix.com/solution/strength-and-maturity-monitoring/)

Hot Weather Concreting (https://maturix.com/knowledge- Choosing the Right Concrete Sensor

Concrete Maturity Standards (https://maturix.com/knowledge- Limitations of the Maturity Method

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