Republic of the Philippines

Batangas State University

College of Engineering, Architecture and Fine Arts

Civil Engineering Department

Laboratory Exercise No. 8

Consistency of Standard Cement Paste

Submitted by:

Group 1 (CE 4102)

De Villa, Engel Merl B

Dimaala, Mhaiza C

Gonzales, Loyd Michael

Guinhawa, Jean Clarize R.

Macatangay, Marco C

Marasigan, Shiela Mae B.

Submitted to:

Engr. Lemuel Lumbera

Instructor

November 7, 2017
Objective:

The aim of this experiment is to find out for a given cement the quality of water to be
mixed to give a paste of normal consistency.

Theory:

Consistency one property of the fresh concrete, is an important consideration in securing

of a workable concrete that can be properly compacted in the forms. The term consistency relates
fluidity from the driest to the wettest mixtures. The common tests to determine consistency are
the slump test and the ball penetration test. These tests give only rough measures of
consistency, but they do give satisfactory measures of this property for most practical work.

For convenience, various degrees of wetness of a mix may be roughly classified as dry,
tiff, medium, wet, or sloppy. A concrete is said to have medium or plastic consistency when it is
just wet enough to flow sluggishly not so dry that it crumbles or so that water or paste rums
from the mass.

The principle factors affecting consistency are (1) the relative proportions of cement to
aggregate (2) the water is content of aggregate (3) the size of aggregate (4) the shape and surface
characteristics of the aggregate particles and (5) the fineness and type of cement and the kind and
amount of a mixture.

Materials and Set-up :

1. Sample of Portland Cement

2. Balance, sensitive to 0.1 gm.

3. Vicats Apparatus

4. Spatula

Testing Procedures:

1. Weigh accurately about 300 gm of neat cement sample to be tested.

2. Mix about 25% of clean water to the cement by means of spatula.

3. After about a minute, mixed it thoroughly with hands for at least one minute.

4. The kneaded paste is formed into a ball and tossed about six times from one hand to another.

5. The ball is then pressed into a rubber mould and the excess paste is removed.

6. The larger end of the rod is brought in contact with the surface of the paste and reading on the
scale is taken.

7. The rod is then quickly released without any jerk and penetration noted. If the rod penetrates
by 33 to 35 mm the paste is said to be of normal consistency.

8. The time taken between adding of water to cement and the filling of the mould should be
between 3 to 5 minutes.

9. Trial pastes should be made with varying percentage of water to determine the percentage for
which the desired penetration is obtained. The amount of the water is expressed as percentage by
weight of dry cement usually 30%.
Appropriate range is slump of concrete for various degrees of consistency.

Consistency Slump, mm Remarks

Dry 0-25 Crumbles and falls apart under ordinary handling; can be
compacted into rigid mass under vigorous ramming, heavy
pressure and vibration, but unless care is used exhibits voids or
honeycomb.

Stiff 15-65 Tends to stand as a pile; holds together fairly well but
crumbles if chuted; with care and effort can be tamped into
solid dense mass; satisfactory for vibratory compaction.

Medium 50-140 Alternate terms; plastic, mushy quaking. Easily moulded

although some care required to secure complete compaction.

Wet 125-200 Pile flattens readily when dumped; can be poured into place.

Sloppy 175-250 Group of mortar tends to run out of pile, leaving coarser
material behind.

Test Result:

Penetration of Depth of
plunger from Penetration
Trial Water Percentage Surface Depth the bottom

Trial 1 25% 36.5 33.5 3

Trial 2 26% 37 34 3

Trial 3 27% 37.5 34 3.5

Trial 4 28% 37.5 23.5 14

Trial 5 29% 37 12 25

Trial 6 30% 37 20.5 17

Discussion of Results:

Water content of cement affect the sample. From the test result, adding of water tends the
cement to become stiffer. 25% water percentage resulted into a dry cement sample. While the
29% resulted into a stiff cement sample.

Conclusion:

Based from the conducted experiment, the water content of cement affects the penetration
using the Vicats Apparatus. Low water content resulted to a dry cement sample. During the
addition of water, it become more stiff and will become sloppy if it achieves its maximum water
content.
Appendices:

300 grams of cement

Addition of water

Mixing the water and cement

The paste is formed into a ball
and tossed.
The ball was placed in the The ball was pressed into the
mould. mould.

The larger end of the rod is The rod is then quickly released
brought in contact with the without any jerk and
surface of the paste. penetration.