Cement, in the general sense of the word, can be described as a material with adhesive and cohesive properties which

make it capable of bonding mineral fragments into a compact whole.

‘cement’

is restricted to the bonding materials used with stones, sand, bricks, building blocks, etc. The principal constituents of
this type of cement are compounds of lime, so that in building and civil engineering we are concerned with calcareous
cement.

Hydraulic cements consist mainly of silicates and aluminates of lime, and can be classified broadly as natural cements,
Portland cements, and high-alumina cements. The present chapter deals with the manufacture of Portland cement and
its structure and properties, both when unhydrated and in a hardened state.

Historical note

 The ancient Egyptians used calcined impure gypsum

 The Greeks and the Romans used calcined limestone and later learned to add to lime and water, sand and
crushed stone or brick and broken tiles.
 The name ‘pozzolanic cement’ is used to this day to describe cements obtained simply by the grinding of natural
materials at normal temperature.
 the Roman structures in which masonry was bonded by mortar, such as the Coliseum in Rome and the Pont du
Gard near Nîmes, and concrete structures such as the Pantheon in Rome, have survived to this day, with the
cementitious material still hard and firm. In the ruins at Pompeii, the mortar is often less weathered than the
rather soft stone.
 The Middle Ages brought a general decline in the quality and use of cement, and it was only in the eighteenth
century that an advance in the knowledge of cements occurred
 John Smeaton, commissioned in 1756 to rebuild the Eddystone Lighthouse, off the Cornish coast, found that the
best mortar was produced when pozzolana was mixed with limestone containing a considerable proportion of
clayey matter.
 ‘Roman cement’ obtained by James Parker by calcining nodules of argillaceous limestone, culminating in the
patent for ‘Portland cement’ taken out by Joseph Aspdin, a Leeds bricklayer, stonemason, and builder, in 1824

 The prototype of modern cement was made in 1845 by Isaac Johnson, who burnt a mixture of clay and chalk
until clinkering, so that the reactions necessary for the formation of strongly cementitious compounds took
place.

 The name ‘Portland cement’, given originally due to the resemblance of the colour and quality of the hardened
cement to Portland stone – a limestone quarried in Dorset – has remained throughout the world to this day to
describe a cement obtained by intimately mixing together calcareous and argillaceous, or other silica-, alumina-,
and iron oxide-bearing materials, burning them at a clinkering temperature, and grinding the resulting clinker.

Manufacture of Portland cement

There are four stages in the manufacture of portland cement: (1) crushing and grinding the raw
materials, (2) blending the materials in the correct proportions, (3) burning the prepared mix in a kiln,
and (4) grinding the burned product, known as “clinker,” together with some 5 percent of gypsum (to
control the time of set of the cement). The three processes of manufacture are known as the wet, dry,
and semidry processes and are so termed when the raw materials are ground wet and fed to the kiln as
 a slurry, ground dry and fed as a dry powder, or ground dry and then moistened to form nodules that
are fed to the kiln.

 Wet process
 Semidry process
 Dry process

Chemical composition of Portland cement

The principal mineral compounds Formula Name Symbol

in Portland cement

1. Tricalcium silicate (CaO)3 · SiO2 Alite C3S

2. Tricalcium silicate (CaO)3 · SiO2 C3S Belite C2S

3. Tricalcium aluminate (CaO)3 · Al2O3 Celite C3A

4. Tetracalcium aluminoferrite (CaO)4 · Al2O3 · Felite C4AF

Fe2O3

1. Tricalcium silicate (C3S): Hydrates and hardens rapidly and is largely responsible for initial set
and early strength. Ordinary Portland cements with higher percentages of C3S will exhibit higher
early strength.

2. Dicalcium silicate (C2S): Hydrates and hardens slowly and is largely responsible for strength
increases beyond one week.

3. Tricalcium aluminate (C3A): Hydrates and hardens the quickest. It liberates a large amount of
heat almost immediately and contributes somewhat to early strength. Gypsum is added to
Ordinary Portland cement to retard C3A hydration. Without gypsum, C3A hydration would
cause ordinary Portland cement to set almost immediately after adding water.

4. Tetracalcium aluminoferrite (C4AF): Hydrates rapidly but contributes very little to strength. Most
ordinary Portland cement color effects are due to C4AF

Usual composition limit of Portland cement

Oxide Function Composition (%) Average

Lime, CaO Controls strength and soundness.

Its deficiency reduces, strength 60-65 63
and setting time.

Silica, SiO2 Gives strength, excess of it causes 17-25 20

slow setting.
Alumina, Al2O3 Responsible for quick setting if in 3-8 6
excess, it lowers the strength.

Iron Oxide, Fe2O3 Gives colour and helps in fusion of 0.5-6 3

different ingredients.

Magnesia, MgO Imparts colour and hardness. If in 0.5-4 2

excess, it causes cracks in mortar
and concrete and unsoundness.

Soda and/or potash, These are residues, and if in 0.5-1 1

Na2O + K2O excess cause efflorescence and
cracking

Sulphur Trioxide, SO3 Makes cement sound. 1-2 1.5

Hydration of cement

 The reactions by virtue of which Portland cement becomes a bonding agent take place in a wa- ter–cement
paste. In other words, in the presence of water, the silicates and aluminates listed in Table 1.1 form products of
hydration which in time produce a firm and hard mass – the hydrated cement paste.
 Calcium silicate hydrates
 Tricalcium aluminate hydrate and the action of gypsum
 Setting
 False set