This document discusses concrete and cement materials. It provides details on: - The composition of concrete including cement paste, fine and coarse aggregates, and water. Concrete gains strength over time as the cement cures. - Historic examples of large unreinforced concrete structures from ancient Rome. - The various tests used to evaluate the quality and properties of concrete and cement, including compressive strength, tensile strength, permeability, consistency, setting time, heat of hydration, and chemical composition. - The specifications and requirements for 53 grade cement used in construction.

1. AR 8521 Building Materials and
Construction IV
Unit 1 – Introduction to Cement and
Concrete

2. Concrete and cement
• Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse
aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement
paste) that hardens (cures) over time.
• Binder with Water forms Concrete - Fine aggregate – Coarse
aggregate – 1:2:4 / 1:1.5:3 / 1:1:3 etc… or M10 / M15 / M20
etc.
• In history lime-based cement binders were mostly used in the
form of lime putty. Hydraulic cements, such as a calcium
aluminate cement or with Portland cement are used now to
form Portland cement concrete

3. Historic Examples
Exterior of the Roman Pantheon, finished 128 AD, the largest unreinforced concrete
dome in the world. Source: Wikipedia

4. Historic Examples
Interior of the Pantheon dome, seen from beneath. The concrete for the coffered
dome was laid on moulds, mounted on temporary scaffolding. Source: Wikipedia

5. India’s First RCC Building
Golconde Ashram at Pondicherry. Architect Raymond Antonin and George
Nakashima 1938 to 1943.

6. Composition of Concrete
• Aggregates are of two types – Coarse and Fine.
• Coarse aggregates are Blue metal / stones (20mm to
40mm) / as per structural design
• Fine aggregates – River Sand / M-Sand
• Admixtures – Property enhancers
• The Mix - When aggregate is mixed with dry Portland
cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry that is
easily poured and molded into shape.

7. Composition of Cement

8. Admixtures

9. Form work

10. Form work

11. Form work

12. Form work

13. What are Different Tests for
Concrete Quality Check?
Tests for Concrete Quality Check.
Quality Tests on Fresh Concrete.
Workability Tests. Air content. Setting
Time.
Tests on Hardened Concrete.
Compressive strength. Tensile strength.
Modulus of elasticity.
Permeability Tests on Concrete. In

14. Test of Cement
• Fineness Test.
• Consistency Test.
• Setting Time Test.
• Strength Test.
• Soundness Test.
• Heat of Hydration Test.
• Tensile Strength Test.
• Chemical Composition Test.

15. Fineness Test
• Fineness test on cement
• The fineness of cement is responsible for the rate
of hydration, rate of evolution of heat and the rate of
gain of strength. Finer the grains more is the surface
area and faster the development of strength.
• The fineness of cement can be determined by Sieve
Test or Air Permeability test.
• Sieve Test: Air-set lumps are broken, and the cement
is sieved continuously in a circular and vertical motion
for a period of 15 minutes. The residue left on the
sieve is weighed, and it should not exceed 10% for
ordinary cement. This test is rarely used for fineness.

16. Air Permeability Test: Blaine's Air
Permeability Test is used to find the
specific surface, which is expressed as
the total surface area in sq.cm/g. of
cement. The surface area is more for
finer particles.

17. Why?
• Quality Tests on cement are carried out to
check the strength and quality of the
cement used in construction. It helps to
identify the usage of cement for different
purposes based on its durability and
performance

18. Consistency test on cement
This test is conducted to find the setting times
of cement using a standard consistency test
apparatus, Vicat's apparatus.
Standard consistency of cement paste is defined
as that water content which will permit a Vicat
plunger of 10 mm diameter and 50 mm length to
penetrate depths of 33-35 mm within 3-5 minutes
of mixing.
The test has to undergo three times, each time
the cement is mixed with water varying from 24 to
27% of the weight of cement.
This test should be conducted at a constant

19. Vicat's apparatus

20. Final Setting Time:
After the paste has attained hardness,
the needle does not penetrate the
paste more than 0.5 mm. The time at
which the needle does not penetrate
more than 0.5 mm is taken as the final
setting time.
Strength test of cement
The strength of cement cannot be
defined directly on the cement. Instead
the strength of cement is indirectly
defined on cement-mortar of 1:3. The

21. Soundness test of cement
This test is conducted in Le
Chatelier's apparatus to detect the
presence of uncombined lime and
magnesia in cement.

22. eat of Hydration Test
During the hydration of cement, heat is produced
due to chemical reactions. This heat may raise the
temperature of concrete to a high temperature of
50°C. To avoid these, in large scale constructions
low-heat cement has to be used
This test is carried out using a
calorimeter adopting the
principle of determining heat
gain. It is concluded that Low-
heat cement should not
generate 65 calories per gram
of cement in 7 days and 75
calories per gram of cement
in 28 days.

23. Tensile Strength of Cement
Tensile Strength of Cement
This test is carried out using a
cement-mortar briquette in a
tensile testing machine. A 1:3
cement-sand mortar with the water
content of 8% is mixed and
moulded into a briquette in the
mould.
This mixture is cured for 24 hours at a temperature of 25°C
or 29°C and in an atmosphere at 90% relative humidity.
The average strength for six briquettes tested after 3 and 7

24. Sl.
No.
Description Properties
Chemical Requirement of 53 grade cement
1. Lime saturation factor Between 0.8 to 1.02
2.
Ratio of percentage of alumina oxide
to that of iron oxide
Not less than 0.66
3. Insoluble residue (% by mass) Not more than 3%
4. Magnesia (% by mass) Not more than 6%
5. Sulphuric anhydride (% by mass) Not more than 3%
6. Total loss on ignition (% by mass) Not more than 4%
7. Chloride content (% by mass) Not more than 0.05%
Physical requirement of 53 grade cement
1. Fineness (m2
/kg) Not less than 225 m2
/kg
2. Soundness
(a) Lechatelier expansion (mm) Not more than 10%
(b) Auto clave expansion (%) Not more than 0.08%
3. Setting time (in minutes)
(a) Initial setting Not less than 30 minutes
(b) Final setting
Not greater than 600
minutes
4. Compressive strength (MPa)
(a) After 73 +/- 1 hours Not less than 27 MPa
(b) After 168 +/- 2 hours Not less than 37 MPa
(c) 672 +/- 4 hours Not less than 53 MPa

26. Core – Cutting Test for Concrete
Destructive Method