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This is to certify that is “Chemistry

Investigatory Project” on the topic “Setting of
Cement” has been successfully completed by
Divyanshi Srivastava of class XII-A under
the guidance of Mr. S.K. Sharma in
particular fulfillment of curriculum of Central
Board Of Secondary Education {CBSE}
leading to the award of annual examination
of the year 2017-18.

Principal
Smt. Reena Chakravorty
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I wish to express my deep gratitude and sincere and
thanks to Principal, Mrs. Reena Chakravorty, Kendriya
Vidyalaya no.3,Jhansi, for her encouragement and for all
the facilities that he provided for this project work. I
sincerely appreciate this magnanimity by taking me into
her fold which I shall remain indebted to her.
I extent my hearty thanks to Mr. S.K. Sharma, Chemistry
teacher, who guided me to the successful completion of
this project. I take this opportunity to express my deep
sense of gratitude for his invaluable guidance, constant
encouragement, constructive comments, sympathetic
attitude and immense motivation, which has sustained my
efforts at all stages of this project work.
Then I would like to thank my parents and classmates
who have helped me with their valuable suggestions and
guidance that has been helpful in various phases of the
completion of the project.

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1- Aim of the Project
2- Requirements
3- Introduction
4- Theory
5- Procedure
6- Observation
7- Conclusion
8- Precautions
9- Bibliography

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•To study the setting of mixture of cement
with sand, lime and fly ash with respect to
time and strength.

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Cement is essentially a finely ground mixture of calcium silicate
(3CaO. SiO2) and aluminates (3CaO. Al2O3) which sets to a
hard mass treated with water. This property makes cement
capable of joining rigid masses like bricks, stones, tiles etc. into
coherent structures. The cements have property of setting and
hardening under water due to certain physiochemical process
and are, therefore, called hydraulic cements. During setting of
cement, the physical changes taking place are gel formation and
crystallization and chemical changes are hydration and
hydrolysis.
The process of solidification of cement paste involves:
(i) Setting, and (ii) hardening.
Setting is stiffening of the original plastic mass into initial gel
formation. After setting, hardening starts due to gradual start
of crystallization in the interior of the mass. The strength
developed by cement at any time depends upon the amount of
gel formed and the extent of crystallization. A mixture of
cement, sand, small pieces o stone (gravel) and water is known
as concrete and sets to an extremely hard structure.
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When cement is used for construction purpose, it is always
mixed with sand and little water to make a pasty material
called mortar. Here cement and lime forms the binding material
and function of sand is to prevent shrinking and cracking and
to increase the bulk, thereby reducing the cost of mortar. When
cement is used as the binding material it is called cement mortar
and when lime is used as the binder it is called lime mortar.
Sand in addition to its other functions also increases the
adhesive qualities of the binding material.

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Effect of quality of sand on setting of cement mortar.
Sand obtained from different sources has different
qualities. For example, sea sand obtained from sea
contains unwanted salts and retards the setting of cement
and is unsuitable for making mortar. On the other hand,
pit sand obtained from pits in the soil and river sand
obtained from river bed are considered excellent for
preparing mortar and concrete.
Effect of time on setting of cement mortar.
Time has an important role on the strength development
by cement mortar. When cement sand is paste in the ratio
1:3 in water is allowed to dry, the strength of the solid
mass keeps on increasing with increase in the time given
for setting. It acquires nearly full in 28 days.

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-Portland Cement
Cement is made by heating lime stone (Calcium carbonate),
with small quantities of other materials (such as clay) to
1450ºC in a kiln, this process is known as calcinations,
whereby a molecule of carbon dioxide is liberated from the
calcium carbonate to form calcium oxide or quick lime,
which is then blended with the other materials that have
been included in the mix.
The resulting hard substance then ground with a small
amount of gypsum into a powder to make ‘Ordinary
Portland Cement’,(often referred as OPC). Portland
cement is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar and non
specialty grout. The most common use of Portland cement
is in the production of concrete. Concrete is a composite
material consisting of aggregate (gravel and sand), cement
and water. As a construction material, concrete can be
cast in almost any shape desired and once hardened, can
become a structural element (load bearing). Portland
cement may be gray or white.

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-Construction of buildings using cement
Cement used in construction is characterized as
hydraulic or non-hydraulic. Hydraulic cement (eg.
Portland cement) harden because of hydration chemical
reactions that occur independently of the mixture harden
even underwater or when constantly exposed to wet
weather. The chemical reaction that results when the
anhydrous cement powder is mixed with water produces
hydrates that are not water-soluble. Non-hydraulic
cements (eg. Lime or gypsum plaster) must be kept dry in
order to retain their strength.

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• Prepare the sets of mixture of various compositions as
given in the observation table.
• Take each of the mixtures in different beakers and prepare
their pastes by adding minimum quantity of water.
• Take 10 empty match-box inner cases and mark them from
1 to 9.
• Transfer the prepared pastes immediately into the
matchboxes and compact them by pressing with hand.
• Spray water from time to time over the pastes so that they
are always moist.
• Take out the slab of each of the composition after three
days and test for its strength. For that, hold a weight of
10g on the hand at a fixed height (say 50cmabove the
ground) and drop the weight on the slab. See if the slab
breaks or not. If it doesn’t break then take 20g weight and
drop it from the same height. This way keeps on increasing
the weight and note down the minimum weight required to
break the slab.
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By seeing the observation we can estimate the
Hardness of the slab.

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 The Strength of the slab increases with
the increase in setting time allowed.

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➢ Handle the glass wares safely.
➢ Allow the time required to set.
➢ Spray only required amount of water.

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1- Chemistry Practical Manual.
2- www.wikipedia.com
3- www.icbse.com
4- www.google.com

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