ThrCement hardens when it comes into contact with water.

This hardening is a process of crystallization. Crystals form (after a certain length of time which is known as the initial
set time) and interlock with each other. Concrete is completely fluid before the cement sets, then progressively hardens.
The cement and water mixture that has crystallized in this way encloses the aggregate particles and produces a dense
material. The concrete continues to harden over several months.

Hardening is not a drying process and can very well take place in water.

Heat speeds up the setting and hardening of cement, and cold slows it down and can even completely stop the
processes.

In order to crystallize or hydrate) cement requires a quantity of water equal to 25% of its weight. But in order for it to be
laid and remain sufficiently workable, twice this amount is usually required. However, too much water can reduce the
strength and durability of the concrete. The paste (i.e. the mixture of cement and water) acts both as a lubricant and an
adhesive.
Hardening does not start as soon as cement and water are mixed, but after a certain length of time known as the "initial
set time" during which the concrete can be mixed, transported, laid and vibrated

and engineer in the 1st century BCE wrote his "Ten books of Architecture" - a
revealing historical insight into ancient technology. Writing about concrete
floors, for example:

"First I shall begin with the concrete flooring, which is the most important of
the polished finishings, observing that great pains and the utmost precaution
must be taken to ensure its durability".

"On this, lay the nucleus, consisting of pounded tile mixed with lime in the
proportions of three parts to one, and forming a layer not less than six digits
thick."

And on pozzolana:

"There is also a kind of powder from which natural causes produces

astonishing results. This substance, when mixed with lime and rubble, not
only lends strength to buildings of other kinds, but even when piers are
constructed of it in the sea, they set hard under water."

(Vitruvius, "The Ten Books of Architecture," Dover Publications, 1960.)

His "Ten books of Architecture" are a real historical gem bringing together
history and technology. Anyone wishing to follow his instructions might first
need to find a thousand or so slaves to dig, saw, pound and polish...

After the Romans, there was a general loss in building skills in Europe,
particularly with regard to cement. Mortars hardened mainly by carbonation of
lime, a slow process. The use of pozzolana was rediscovered in the late
Middle Ages.

The great mediaeval cathedrals, such as Durham, Lincoln and Rochester in

England and Chartres and Rheims in France, were clearly built by highly
skilled masons. Despite this, it would probably be fair to say they did not have
the technology to manipulate the properties of cementitious materials in the
way the Romans had done a thousand years earlier.

Cement history and the Industrial

Revolution
The Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment brought new ways of thinking
which led to the industrial revolution. In eighteenth century Britain, the
interests of industry and empire coincided, with the need to build lighthouses
on exposed rocks to prevent shipping losses. The constant loss of merchant
ships and warships drove cement technology forwards.

Smeaton, building the third Eddystone lighthouse (1759) off the coast of
Cornwall in Southwestern England, found that a mix of lime, clay and crushed
slag from iron-making produced a mortar which hardened under water.
Joseph Aspdin took out a patent in 1824 for "Portland Cement," a material he
produced by firing finely-ground clay and limestone until the limestone was
calcined. He called it Portland Cement because the concrete made from it
looked like Portland stone, a widely-used building stone in England.

While history usually regards Aspdin as the inventor of Portland cement,

Aspdin's cement was not produced at a high-enough temperature to be the
real forerunner of modern Portland cement. Nevertheless, his was a major
innovation and subsequent progress could be viewed as mere development.

A ship carrying barrels of Aspdin's cement sank off the Isle of Sheppey in
Kent, England, and the barrels of set cement, minus the wooden staves, were
later incorporated into a pub in Sheerness and are still there now. Those who
wish can sup a pint and contemplate cement history.

A few years later, in 1845, Isaac Johnson made the first modern Portland
Cement by firing a mixture of chalk and clay at much higher temperatures,
similar to those used today. At these temperatures (1400C-1500C), clinkering
occurs and minerals form which are very reactive and more strongly
cementitious.

While Johnson used the same materials to make Portland cement as we use
now, three important developments in the manufacturing process lead to
modern Portland cement:

 Development of rotary kilns

 Addition of gypsum to control setting
 Use of ball mills to grind clinker and raw materials

From the turn of the 20th century, rotary cement kilns gradually replaced the
original vertical shaft kilns, used originally for making lime. Rotary kilns heat
the clinker mainly by radiative heat transfer and this is more efficient at higher
temperatures, enabling higher burning temperatures to be achieved. Also,
because the clinker is constantly moving within the kiln, a fairly uniform
clinkering temperature is achieved in the hottest part of the kiln, the burning
zone.

The two other principal technical developments, gypsum addition to control

setting and the use of ball mills to grind the clinker, were also introduced at
around the start of the 20th century.
An entire website could easily be devoted to the history of cement, but this
brief introduction may suffice to place cement in a historical context.

Check Out the Understanding Cement

Resources!
We have some great training and reference resources. Some are free and
some are paid-for.

The paid-for resources are unique to Understanding Cement and proceeds

from these sales contribute to the costs of operating and developing this
website - see our bookstore here.

The free resources are available on the Cembytes Resources Page.

Currently, they include:

Ebook: "Low Concrete Strength? Ten Potential Cement-Related Causes":

this illustrated ebook is a checklist of some of the main causes of cement-
related low strength in concrete or mortar.

Cement glossary: glossary of over 100 cement-related definitions and

chemical formulae.

Screensaver/desktop images: six microscope images of clinker and

concrete that you can use as desktop/tablet or screensaver images, or
anything else you want.
Subscribers to Cembytes, our free Understanding Cement Newsletter, can
download these free resources from the Cembytes Resources Page.

If you are not already a subscriber, just sign up using the box below and you
can be downloading the ebook, glossary and photos within a minute or two.
Make sure you bookmark the resources page so you can get back to it later -
there are no links to it from the website navigation as it is for Cembytes
subscribers only!

If you are already a subscriber to Cembytes, you can access the Cembytes
Resources Page directly if you have bookmarked it. However, if you have
forgotten how to reach the Resources page, you can easily get back to it. Just
enter your email in the signup box below and if you are on the subscriber list
you will see a link to the Resources Page.

(Note: we currently have two Cembytes subscriber lists, and old one and a
new one, and we are gradually transferring to the new one. Depending when
you subscribed, you will be on one list or the other. If you are on the old list,
the signup box won't recognize you because it is only connected to the new
list, but that's fine. Just confirm your subscription and you will be on the new
list. After you confirm you will receive an email with a link to the Resources
Page.)

Sign up here for the Cembytes Newsletter and access to the

Cembytes Resources Page
Name:

Email:

Legal stuff:

I agree to receive your newsletter and other information as described

I have read the Privacy Policy

I am over 16 years old

Unsubscribe at any time by using the link in the newsletter.

We use AWeber as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your
information will be transferred to AWeber for processing. Learn more about AWeber's privacy practices here.

Subscribe

We respect your email privacy

Get a Better Understanding of Cement

Articles like this one can provide a lot of useful material. However, reading an
article or two is not really the best way to get a clear picture of a complex
material like cement. To get a more complete and integrated understanding of
cement and concrete, do have a look at the Understanding Cement book or
ebook.
This easy-to-read and concise book contains much more detail on concrete
chemistry and deleterious processes in concrete compared with the website.

For example, it has about two-and-a-half times as much on ASR, one-and-a-

half times as much on sulfate attack and nearly three times as much on
carbonation. It has sections on alkali-carbonate reaction, frost (freeze-thaw)
damage, steel corrosion, leaching and efflorescence on masonry. It also has
about four-and-a-half times as much on cement hydration (comparisons
based on word count).

Click here for more information

Check the Article Directory for more articles on this or related topics
Recent Articles
1. Electrochemical synthesis of cement

Review, Ellis et al: Toward electrochemical synthesis of cement—An electrolyzer-based process for
decarbonating CaCO3 while producing useful gas streams

Read More

2. ASR Video 1

An over-the-shoulder look at ASR in concrete as seen using the SEM.

Read More
3. Book Review - Alkali-Aggregate Reaction in
Concrete: A World Review

The UC review of "Alkali-Aggregate Reaction in Concrete: A World Review" edited by Iam Sims and
Alan Poole.

Read More

Click book image for more info

 Click the image for more information
Almost everyone interested in cement is also concerned to at least some degree with concrete strength.
This ebook describes ten cement-related characteristics of concrete that can potentially cause strengths
to be lower than expected. Get the ebook FREE when you sign up to CEMBYTES, our Understanding
Cement Newsletter - just click on the ebook image above.

Cement Warning and Disclaimer Privacy Terms of use Cookies

Copyright Notice: material on this website is copyright © 200