Test on cement

To determine the normal consistency and initial setting time by vicat's apparatus.
Cement used : OPC 53 grade cement
Test Procedure:
• Take a 400-gram cement sample.
• Place this cement sample in a tray.
• Consider the standard consistency of water at 28%.
• Add the same quantity in cement and mix it properly.
• Mix the cement paste for 3 to 5 minutes. The total time taken to obtain cement paste is known as gauging time.
• Now fill the paste in Vicat mold effectively any excessive paste that remained on Vicat mold is taken off by using a trowel.
• Now place the Vicat mold on the plate and observe whether the plunger is touching the surface Vicat mold or not. Make
sure it is touching the surface of VICAT mold.
• Now release the plunger and permit it to sink into the test mold.
• Note down total penetration of the plunger from the bottom of the mold as indicated don the scale.
• Repeat this experiment again and again by adding different percentages of water until the reading is in between 5-7 mm on
the Vicat apparatus scale.

Result: The normal consistency for tested cement was found to be 34%.
 And the initial setting time was found to be 60 minutes.
Fineness modulus of cement
To determine the fineness of cement by sieving method using IS sieve number 9

Procedure.
1. Take 1000 grams (1 Kg) of cement for the test sample and name it as (w1).
2. Rub the cement particle well with your hands so that no lumps are left.
3. Now pour the 1 Kg cement content in the sieve and close it perfectly with the sieve lid.
4. If you have a sieve shaking machine then it’s awesome, now you just need to put the sieve in the shaking machine and start
the machine for 15 minutes.
Anyway, if you don’t have the sieve shaking machine then no problem, you can shake it also with your hands.
But you need to make sure that the sieving operation is done in all the direction for a minimum of 15 minutes.
5. Brush the sieve base gently with the bristle brush so that nothing is left on the sieve surface.
6. Now just weight the retained amount of cement on the sieve and note it as (w2).
7. Now you need to find the percentage of the weight of cement-retained on the 90 µm sieve.
8. For calculation the formula is;
Percent of cement retained on sieve = (w2/w1) x 100.
9. Repeat the test for at least three times to minimize the risk of errors.
Watch the video below for better understanding.

Result: The weight of residue is found to be 97.5%.

Sieve analysis on coarse aggregate and fine aggregate
To determine the fineness modulus on coarse aggregate and fine aggregate

Procedure:
• Clean the sieves of sieve shaker using cleaning brush if any particles are struck in the openings.
• Record the weight of each sieve and receiving pan.
• Dry the specimen in oven for 3-4 minutes to get the dried specimen (ignore, if the specimen is already dried).
• Weigh the specimen and record its weight.
• Arrange the sieves in order as the smaller openings sieve to the last and larger openings sieve to the top. (Simply, arrange
them to the ascending order of sieve numbers – No.4 sieve on top and no.200 sieve at bottom)- Sieve numbers and the
particle sizes are provided below in a chart for further understanding.
• Keep the weight recorded specimen on the top sieve and then keep the complete sieve stack on the sieve shaker (Don’t
forget to keep the lid and receiving pan).
• Allow the shaker to work 10-5 minutes – use the clock here..!
• Remove the sieve stack from the shaker and record the weight of each sieve and receiving pan separately.
Bulking of Sand 
To determine bulking of sand
Procedure:
1. A measuring cylinder is filled with the sample upto 200 ml. It’s volume is V1=200 ml
2. Carefully sand is to be transferred to a container.
3. Refilled the measuring cylinder with 100 ml water.
4. Sample sand refilled and stirring the water while adding sand into it by a steel rod.
5. Then after sometime that the sand settle a level below the 200 ml mark denoted as volume V2
6. Bulking of sand determined for the this sample
Bulking of sand formula= 200-V2/V2 x 100
This procedure is repeated twice and average value of three observation will be the percentage of bulking of sand .
Quantity of Initial Final Bulking(%)
water volume(ml) volume(ml)
added(%)
2 50 57 14
4 50 61 22
6 50 65 13
8 50 58 16
10 50 60 20
12 50 61 22
14 50 65 30
16 50 66 32
18 50 63 26
20 50 67 34
22 50 50 18
24 50 58 16
Preparation of control mix 
Concrete of M30 grade is made with the following procedure:
All the material required such as 20mm of CA, 10mm of CA, FA, cement, EPS beads are measured with the help of
weight machine. The amount of material taken as given below
25.247KG of 20mm CA
25.247KG of 10mm CA
26.998KG of FA
16.614KG of cement
6KG of water with admixture
The design is for M30 grade of concrete with 0% EPS Beads

Machine mixing: The measured material are inserted into the concrete mixer in the following pattern
Initially CA and FA are rotated into the concrete mixer then cement and water are added into it. The ingredient are
rotated until it get mix properly.
Slump cone test is perform to measure consistency of fresh concrete before it sets, for this mix the reading is 15 

Casting of specimens: The casting mold are of cast iron and is rubbed with grease on inner side for easy removal of
cubes. The prepared concrete mix are put into the cube and cylinder mold and vibrator compaction is done and let it
rest for 24 hours to set properly.

Curing: Once the specimens are properly set after 24 hours remove the concrete cube and cylinders from the mold.
Keep the specimens submerged under water for stipulated time. For 7, 14 and 28 days.
This is the mix for M30 grade of concrete with 0% of EPS Beads. In each mix there is increment of EPS beads up to 0.5% of EPS
beads are added. When EPS beads are added hand compaction with tamping rod is done to settle the EPS beads in concrete
properly and to avoid the gathering of EPS at upper surface.
Control mix cement EPS Beads FA 10mm CA 20mm CA
M30 16.614 0% 26.998 25.247 25.247
M30 16.614 0.2% 26.998 25.197 25.247
M30 16.614 0.3% 26.998 25.171 25.247
M30 16.614 0.4% 26.998 25.146 25.247
M30 16.614 0.5% 26.998 25.140 25.247

3 cubes and 3 cylinders has been casted for each 7, 14 and 28 days
Test performed 

Compressive strength test: To check the compressive strength of concrete cube and cylinder at 7, 14 and 28 days.

Procedure : Specimen is well dried before placing it in machine.

                      Weight of sample is noted in order to proceed with testing.
                      Testing specimens are placed in the space between bearing surfaces.
                      The loading must be applied axially on specimen  and increased the load till the specimen collapse.
                      Due to the constant application of load the specimen start cracking at a point and a final breakdown of
                      must be noted.