DEFINATION: A cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together.

The word cement traces to the !omans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made "rom crushed roc# with burnt lime as binder.It was later called as cementum, cimentum, cament and cement.

$A%I& T'(E%: &ements used in construction can be characteri)ed as being either hydraulic or non*hydraulic. +ydraulic cements ,e.g., (ortland cementharden because o" hydration, a chemical reaction between the anhydrous cement powder and water. Thus, they can harden underwater or when constantly e.posed to wet weather. The chemical reaction results in hydrates that are not /ery water*soluble and so are 0uite durable in water. Non* hydraulic cements do not harden underwater1 "or e.ample, sla#ed limes harden by reaction with atmospheric carbon dio.ide. $A%I& 2%E: The most important uses o" cement are as an ingredient in the production o" mortar in masonry, and o" concrete, a combination o" cement and an aggregate to "orm a strong building material. !EFE!EN&E: 3I4I(EDIA.&O5 (roperties o" &ements

&ement

&ement which is used in construction is characteri)ed as hydraulic and non hydraulic. E.ample "or hydraulic cement is (ortland cement, and e.ample "or Non hydraulic cement is 6ime and gypsum plaster. The most important use o" cement is the production o" mortar and concrete. &oncrete should not be con"used with cement, concrete is the combination o" cement and aggregate.

(hysical properties o" cement

The mentioned physical properties o" cement are about1 setting time, strength, soundness, "ineness o" grinding. For determining these properties, I% 789*:;<= prescribes the re0uirement and the standard procedure.

Table: !e0uirement (hysical properties o" cement

(hysical property ,a-%etting time

%tandard prescribed

Initial Final For initial not less than >? min "inal not more than 8?? min ,b-&ompressi/e strength o" mortar with standard sand A"ter > days @ :hour A"ter 8 days @ 7 hour Not less than :8 NAmm7 Not less than 77 NAmm7 For

Tensile strength

A"ter > days A"ter < days ,c-%oundness $y 6e*&hatelier method $y autocla/e method ,d-Fineness

Not less than 7.? NAmm7 Not less than 7.= NAmm7

E.pansion should not be more than :?mm E.pansion should not be more than ?.=B

!esidue by weight on I% ;? micron sie/e %peci"ic sur"ace by air permeability method (roperties o" &ement 5ortar The "ollowing are properties o" cement mortar,

Not more than :?B Not less than 77=?.

3hen water is added to initiate dry mi.tures o" cement and sand, hydration o" cement starts and it will binds sand particles as well as the surrounding sur"aces o" masonry and concrete. The proportion o" cement and sand will decide the strength o" mortar. A richer mi. than ::> proportion is prone to shrin#age. %olid sur"ace are pro/ided by well proportioned mortar. A leaner mi. is not able o" closing the /oids in sand. (roperties o" cement concrete (roperties o" cement concrete are, concrete has high compressi/e strength but lower tensile strength and it is usually rein"orced with materials that are strong in tension. At lower stress le/el, the elasticity o" concrete is constant, but it starts decreasing at higher stress le/els as matri. crac#ing de/elops. E/ery concrete structure will crac# to some e.tent, because o" its shrin#age and tension. !EFE!N&E 6IN4:http:AAclasso":.comAhomewor#CanswersAci/ilCengineeringApropertiesCo"Cc ementsA &+E5I&A6 (!O(E!TIE% OF &E5ENT IN &ON&!ETE: &ement is the material that is used to bind the aggregate materials o" concrete and some o" its properties are: high hydration capability, admi.ture compatibility and strong binding power. &ement also has high heat o" hydration rate as well as high water re0uirement. (roperties o" the maDor cement minerals:

About ;?*;=B o" a (ortland cement is comprised o" the "our main cement minerals, which are &>%, &7%, &>A, and &EAF, with the remainder consisting o" calcium sul"ate, al#ali sul"ates, unreacted ,"ree- &aO, 5gO, and other minor constituents le"t o/er "rom the clin#ering and grinding steps. The "our cement minerals play /ery di""erent roles in the hydration process that

con/erts the dry cement into hardened cement paste. The &>% and the &7% contribute /irtually all o" the bene"icial properties by generating the main hydration product, &*%*+ gel. +owe/er, the &>% hydrates much more 0uic#ly than the &7% and thus is responsible "or the early strength de/elopment. The &>A and &EAF minerals also hydrate, but the products that are "ormed contribute little to the properties o" the cement paste. As was discussed in the pre/ious section, these minerals are present because pure calcium silicate cements would be /irtually impossible to produce economically.

The crystal structures o" the cement minerals are 0uite comple., and since these structures do not play an important role in the properties o" cement paste and concrete we will only present the most important "eatures here. 5ore detailed in"ormation can be "ound in the boo# by Taylor F7G. The hydration reactions o" the cement minerals are co/ered in %ection=.>.

Tricalcium %ilicate ,&>%-

&>% is the most abundant mineral in portland cement, occupying E?H<? wt B o" the cement, and it is also the most important. The hydration o" &>% gi/es cement paste most o" its strength, particularly at early times.

(ure &>% can "orm with three di""erent crystal structures. At temperatures below ;9?I& the e0uilibrium structure is triclinic. At temperatures between ;9?I& H :?<?I& the structure is monoclinic, and abo/e :?<?I& it is rhombohedral. In addition, the triclinic and monoclinic structures each ha/e three polymorphs, so there are a total o" se/en possible structures. +owe/er, all o" these structures are rather similar and there are no signi"icant di""erences in the reacti/ity. The most important "eature o" the structure is an aw#ward and asymmetric pac#ing o" the calcium and o.ygen ions that lea/es large JholesK in the crystal lattice. Essentially, the ions do not "it together /ery well, causing the crystal structure to ha/e a high internal energy. As a result, &>% is highly reacti/e.

The &>% that "orms in a cement clin#er contains about >*EB o" o.ides other than &aO and %iO7. %trictly spea#ing, this mineral should there"ore be called alite rather than &>%. +owe/er, as discussed in %ection >.7, we will a/oid using mineral names in this monograph. In a typical clin#er the &>% would

contain about : wtB each o" 5gO, Al7O>, and Fe7O>, along with much smaller amounts o" Na7O, 47O, (7O=, and %O> F7G. These amounts can /ary considerably with the composition o" the raw materials used to ma#e the cement, howe/er. O" the three maDor impurities, 5g and Fe replace &a, while Al replaces %i.

One e""ect o" the impurities is to Jstabili)eK the monoclinic structure, meaning that the structural trans"ormation "rom monoclinic to triclinic that would normally occur on cooling is pre/ented. 5ost cements thus contain one o" the monoclinic polymorphs o" &>%.

Dicalcium %ilicate ,&7%-

As with &>%, &7% can "orm with a /ariety o" di""erent structures. There is a high temperature a structure with three polymorphs, a b structure in that is in e0uilibrium at intermediate temperatures, and a low temperature g structure. An important aspect o" &7% is that g*&7% has a /ery stable crystal structure that is completely unreacti/e in water. Fortunately, the b structure is easily stabili)ed by the other o.ide components o" the clin#er and thus the g "orm is ne/er present in portland cement. The crystal structure o" b*&7% is irregular, but considerably less so than that o" &>%, and this accounts "or the lower reacti/ity o" &7%. The &7% in cement contains slightly higher le/els o" impurities than &>%. According to Taylor F7 G, the o/erall substitution o" o.ides is E*8B, with signi"icant amounts o" Al7O>, Fe7O>, and 47O.

Tricalcium Aluminate ,&>A-

Tricalcium aluminate ,&>A- comprises anywhere "rom )ero to :EB o" a portland cement. 6i#e &>%, it is highly reacti/e, releasing a signi"icant amount o" e.othermic heat during the early hydration period. 2n"ortunately, the hydration products o" "ormed "rom &>A contribute little to the strength or other engineering properties o" cement paste. In certain en/ironmental conditions ,i.e., the presence o" sul"ate ions-, &>A and its products can actually harm the concrete by participating in e.pansi/e reactions that lead to stress and crac#ing.

(ure &>A "orms only with a cubic crystal structure. The structure is characteri)ed by &aL7 atoms and rings o" si. AlOE tetrahedra. As with &>%, the bonds are distorted "rom their e0uilibrium positions, leading to a high internal energy and thus a high reacti/ity. %igni"icant amounts o" &aO and the Al7O> in the &>A structure can be replaced by other o.ides, and at high le/els o" substitution this can lead to other crystal structures. The &>A in portland cement clin#er, which typically contains about :>B o.ide substitution, is primarily cubic, with smaller amounts o" orthorhombic &>A. The &>A and &EAF minerals "orm by simultaneous precipitation as the li0uid phase "ormed during the clin#ering process cools, and thus they are closely intermi.ed. This ma#es it di""icult to ascertain the e.act compositions o" the two phases. The cubic "orm generally contains MEB substitution o" %iO7, M=B substitution o" Fe7O>, and about :B each o" Na7O, 47O, and 5gO. The orthorhombic "orm has similar le/els, but with a greater ,M=B- substitution o" 47O.

Tetracalcium Alumino"errite ,&EAF-

A stable compound with any composition between &7A and &7F can be "ormed, and the cement mineral termed &EAF is an appro.imation that simply the represents the midpoint o" this compositional series. The crystal structure is comple., and is belie/ed to be related to that o" the mineral pero/s#ite. The actual composition o" &EAF in cement clin#er is generally higher in aluminum than in iron, and there is considerable substitution o" %iO7 and 5gO. Taylor F7G reports a typical composition ,in normal chemical notation- to be &a7AlFe?.85g?.7%i?.:=Ti?.=O=. +owe/er, the composition will /ary somewhat depending on the o/erall composition o" the cement clin#er. !EFE!EN&E 6IN4: http:AAiti.northwestern.eduAcementAmonographA5onograph>C=.html