Portland Cement Portland cement is extensively used in the construction of nuclear waste facilities and as a matrix for shielding and immobilization of radioactive species. It affords both a physical and chemical potential for immobilization. These potentials are quantified and related to specification, fabrication, and performance. However, performance in the long term depends on the cement formulation as well as the geochemistry of the disposal environment and interactions between cement and its near field environment including inactive waste components and other containment materials. Future performance can be estimated using data from natural analogs, the experience of the performance of historic structures, and by modeling. A comparison of Portland cement with other non-Portland cement is also made.

1. Erbil Polytechnic University
Road Construction Department
2019-2020
(Portland Cement)
Name: Copyright
Supervisor:
Stage: 2(RA-R1)
Object: Concrete Technology
Date submission: June 20, 2020

2. 1
Abstract:
Portland cement is extensively used in the construction of nuclear waste facilities and as a matrix
for shielding and immobilisation of radioactive species. It affords both a physical and chemical
potential for immobilisation. These potentials are quantified and related to
specification, fabrication and performance. However, performance in the long term depends on
the cement formulation as well as the geochemistry of the disposal environment and interactions
between cement and its near field environment including inactive waste components and other
containment materials. Future performance can be estimated using data from natural analogues,
experience of the performance of historic structures and by modelling. Comparison of Portland
cement with other non-Portland cements is also made.

3. 2
Contents
1: abstract………………………………………………………………………………….1
2: Introduction.......................................................................................................................3
3: The standard types of Portland cement are: ....................................................................3
4: Uses of Ordinary Portland Cement ..................................................................................4
Advantages of Ordinary Portland Cement...........................................................................4
Disadvantages of Ordinary Portland Cement ......................................................................4
5: Physical Properties ............................................................................................................5
6: Chemical Properties ..........................................................................................................6
7: Manufacture of Portland Cement.....................................................................................6
8: Conclusion .........................................................................................................................8
9: Reference ..........................................................................................................................9

4. 3
1: INTRODUCTION
Portland cement, arguably one of mankind’s most important manufactured materials, was
invented and patented by Joseph Aspin from Leeds in 1824. Aspin produced cement by heating
powdered limestone mixed with clay in a furnace, and grinding the resulting clinker to a powder.
He called the product “Portland Cement” because of its resemblance, when set, to Portland stone,
a type of stone quarried on the Isle of Portland. Aspin’s cement was improved in 1843 by his son
William, by vigorous heating and using better grinding equipment to handle the hard clinker. To
this day, Portland cement is still the most commonly used cement around the globe.
2: The standard types of Portland cement are:
Different types of Portland cement are manufactured to meet different physical and chemical
requirements for specific purposes. The American Society for Testing
and Materials (ASTM) Designation C 150 provides for eight types of Portland cement:
Type I – for general purpose.
Type IA – same as Type I, but when air entrainment is desired.
Type II – for moderate sulfate resistance.
Type IIA – same as Type II, but when air entrainment is desired.
Type II(MH) – much like Type II, but when moderate heat of hydration is desired.
Type II(MH)A – same as Type II(MH), but when air entrainment is desired.
Type III – for high early strength.
Type IIIA — same as Type III, but when air entrainment is desired.
Type IV – for low heat of hydration Type V – for high sulfate resistance.
For maintaining a level of consistency between cement-producing plants, standards are key. In
addition, documents like ASTM C150-20 contain information useful to others using Portland
concrete, as each type serves a different function. While Type I is used for general construction,
including buildings, bridges, and pavements, each other type fits a specialized purpose. In addition
to defining Portland cement types, ASTM C150-20 details ingredients, chemical composition,
physical properties.
However, with an interest in the industry for performance-based specifications, ASTM C1157
describes cements by their performance attributes:

5. 4
Cement Type Description
Type GU General Use
Type HE High Early-Strength
Type MS Moderate Sulfate Resistance
Type HS High Sulfate Resistance
Type MH Moderate Heat of Hydration
Type LH Low Heat of Hydration
3: Uses of Ordinary Portland Cement
 It is used for general construction purposes where special properties are not required such
as reinforced concrete buildings, bridges, pavements, and where soil conditions are
normal.
 Used for most of concrete masonry units
Advantages of Ordinary Portland Cement
 It has great resistance to cracking and shrinkage but has less resistance to chemical
attacks.
 Initial setting time of OPC is faster than PPC so it is recommended in projects where
props are to be removed early.
 Curing period of OPC is less than PPC and curing cost reduces. Hence recommended
where curing cost prohibitive. Disadvantages
Disadvantages of Ordinary Portland Cement
 It cannot be used for mass concreting as it has high heat of hydration as compared to
PPC.
 The durability of concrete made using OPC is less than that of the concrete made using
PPC.
 It produces comparatively less cohesive concrete than PPC, hence concrete pumping
becomes a little difficult.
 OPC has lower fineness, hence has higher permeability and as a result it has lower
durability.
 OPC is costlier than PPC.

6. 5
4: Physical Properties
Portland cements are commonly characterized by their physical properties for quality
control purposes. Their physical properties can be used to classify and compare Portland cements.
The challenge in physical property characterization is to develop physical tests that can
satisfactorily characterize key parameters. This section, taken largely from the PCA (1988[5]
), lists
the more common U.S. Portland cement physical properties that are tested. Specification values,
where given, are taken from ASTM C 150, Standard Specification for Portland Cement.
Keep in mind that these properties, in general, apply to “neat” cement pastes – that is, they only
include Portland cement and water. Neat cement pastes are typically difficult to handle and test
and thus they introduce more variability into the results. Cements may also perform differently
when used in a “mortar” (cement + water + sand). Over time, mortar tests have been found to
provide a better indication of cement quality and thus, tests on neat cement pastes are typically
used only for research purposes (Mindless and Young, 1981[1]
). However, if the sand is not
carefully specified in a mortar test, the results may not be transferable.
 Fineness
 Soundness
 Setting Time
 Strength
 Specific Gravity
 Heat of Hydration
 Loss on Ignition

7. 6
5: Chemical Properties
Portland cements can be characterized by their chemical composition although they rarely are for
pavement applications. However, it is a Portland cement’s chemical properties that determine its
physical properties and how it cures. Therefore, a basic understanding of Portland cement
chemistry can help one understand how and why it behaves as it does. This section briefly
describes the basic chemical composition of a typical Portland cement and how it hydrates.
6: Manufacture of Portland Cement
Cement is usually manufactured by two processes:
 Wet Process
 Dry Process
 Semi wet Process
The two processes are fundamentally similar, except for the fact that in the wet process the raw
materials are ground with water before they are fed into the kiln. All though there was little
difference in efficiency between the two processes, the wet process had the disadvantages of CO2
emission and more fuel consumption to evaporate the water in the slurry. This made most cement
manufactures prefer the dry process to wet process.
There are five stages involved in the manufacturing of cement using the dry process, which is
discussed below.
 Crushing and Grinding: The raw materials like limestone and clay, obtained from the
quarry, is crushed to form fine powder.
 Raw material proportioning: The crushed raw material is blended in correct proportions
to form what is called the “raw feed” or “kiln feed”.
 Heating the “raw feed” in rotary kiln: The “raw feed” is introduced in the higher end of
the rotary kiln by a conveyor and heated to about 1400 to 1500 degree Celsius.
 Clinker formation: The new product which is obtained from the rotary kiln is called the
“clinker”. The red-hot clinker discharged from the kiln is allowed to cool and sent to the
cement mill.
 Grinding the clinker with gypsum: The cement clinker is usually ground in a ball mill to
form fine powder. A small amount of gypsum (5%) is used in this grinding process to
control the setting properties of concrete when mixed with water. The end product of this
process is called “Portland Cement”.
The cement thus produced is so fine that it almost completely passes through 0.075mm sieve. The
cement is then packed and transported for various construction projects.

8. 7
This cycle is a manufacturing of cement using the dry process

9. 8
7: Conclusion
Portland cement is a complex product obtained from unprocessed common natural materials:
limestone and clay. Consequently, the characteristics of Portland cement clinker may vary from
one cement plant to another. To limit the variations of the technological properties of Portland
cement, acceptance standards have been developed, but presently these standards are not
satisfactory for the whole concrete market. Low w/c cements are increasingly used; these concretes
are made using large dosage of superplasticizers to disperse cement particles. It is therefore urgent
for the cement industry to produce a clinker that will facilitate the production of the low w/c
concretes that are more sustainable than normal-strength concretes. The production of the old Type
I/II clinker must continue to satisfy the needs of this very profitable market, because now that we
know how to increase concrete compressive strength, it is very important that we focus on how to
improve the rheology of these concretes in order to transform concrete into a quasi-liquid material
that can be poured without any problem.

10. 9
8: Reference
1). https://www.screedscientist.com/portland-cement-a-brief-history/
2). https://youtu.be/aMkoHaoHTek
3). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement
4).
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899493870&ei=ZXXiXoTQNJCZkgWUvKSADQ&q=type+of+portland+cement+&oq=type+of
+portland+cement+&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIICAAQBxAKEB4yBAgAEB4yBAgAEB4yB
AgAEB4yCAgAEAcQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4
yCAgAEAUQChAeOgcIABBHELADOgQIIxAnOgIIADoHCCMQsAIQJzoGCAAQBxAeOggI
ABAIEAcQHlCKHFixjwFggJYBaAFwAHgBgAHBBYgBkw6SAQcwLjguNi0xmAEAoAEBq
gEHZ3dzLXdpeg&sclient=psy-
ab&ved=0ahUKEwjEluber_rpAhWQjKQKHRQeCdAQ4dUDCAw&uact=5
5). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement