CIVL 111 Construction Materials LAB II: CEMENT TEST Test 1.

Cement fineness test (ASTM C 184 - 94) Procedures - Place 50 g sample of cement on a clean and dry # 100 (hole size of 0.15 mm) si eve, with the pan attached to it. While holding the sieve and the uncovered pan in both hands, sieve with a gentle wrist motion until most of the fine materials have passed through and the residue looks fairly clean. - Place the cover on the sieve and remove the pan. Now holding them firmly in on e hand, gently tap the side of the sieve. The dust adhering to the sieve will th us be dislodged and the underside of the sieve may now be swept clean. - Empty the pan and thoroughly wipe it out with cloth or a napkin. Replace the s ieve in the pan and carefully remove the cover. Return any coarser material in t he cover, caught during tapping of the sieve. - Continue the sieving as described earlier, without the cover, depending on the condition of cement. - Continuously rotate the sieve along with gentle wrist motion, taking care not to spill any cement. Continue this for about 9 minutes. Replace the cover and cl ean, following the same procedure as described earlier. If the cement is in prop er condition, there should now be no appreciable dust remaining in the residue o r adhering to the sieve and the pan. - Conduct 1-minute test as follows: Hold the sieve in one hand, with the pan and the cover attached, in slightly inclined position and move it backward and forw ard in the plane of inclination. At the same time gently strike the side about 1 50 times per minute against the palm of the other hand on the upstroke. Perform the sieving over a sheet of white paper. Return any material escaping from the s ieve or pan and collecting on the paper. - Weigh the amount of cement remained. W = Rt = Calculation F = 100 - (Rt/W) 100 = Where F = fineness of cement expressed as the percentage passing # 100 sieve, Rt = weight remaining in # 100 sieve, and W = total weight of the sample in grams. Discussion Question: How does the fineness of cement affect the strength gain and heat of hydration i n concrete? 1 Test 2. Normal consistency test (ASTM 187 - 86 Re approved 1991) Definition of terms - Normal consistency: A standard measure of plasticity of a cement paste. A past e has normal consistency when a Vicat plunger penetrates 10 1 mm in 30 sec. Procedures - Secure 500 g. of cement - Mix cement with measured quantity of clean water - Mould cement paste into shape of a ball. With gloved hands, toss ball six time s through a free path of about six inches from one hand to another. - Press ball into larger end of Vicat ring and completely fill ring with paste. - Remove excessive paste without compressing samples and locate ring under plung er of Vicat apparatus. - Place plunger in contact with top of paste and lock. Set indicator on the scal e to zero. - Release plunger and record settlement of plunger in mm after 30 seconds. - Repeat process with trial paste with varying percentages of water until normal consistency is observed.

Record the initial time of the test: (when you start to pour water into cement) T = _____hour______min.______seconds Record the weight of water added to 500g of cement, when the plunger penetrates 10mm (9mm to 11mm) in 30 seconds. W = ________ g of water. Discussion Question: With finer cement particle size, would more or less water be required to achieve the normal consistency? Briefly explain. 2 Test 3. Set time test (ASTM C 191 - 92) Definition of terms: - Time of initial set: The time at which the concrete can no longer be properly mixed, finished or compacted. (Represented by a Vicat needle penetration of 25 m m or less). - Time of final set: The time required for the cement to harden to a point where it can sustain some load. (Represented by no penetration of Vicat needle.) Procedures - Mix 500 g of cement with the percentage of water required for normal consisten cy as described above. (The specimen used for the normal consistency test can be used.) - After moulding cement paste into the test ring, place specimen in moist room f or 30 minutes. - Place specimen ring under Vicat apparatus and lock needle on surface of paste. Set indicator scale to zero. - Release weighted needles and record the penetration in mm after 30 seconds. - Repeat process every fifteen minutes until initial set is achieved. - Repeat processes every hour until final set is achieved. Calculation - Calculate the time to the nearest minute required for the paste of normal cons istency to achieve initial and final sets. Record the time of initial set: (Represented by a Vicat needle penetration of 25 mm or less.) T = _________hour ___________min.____________seconds Record the time of final set: (Represented by no penetration of Vicat needle.) T = _________hour ___________min.____________seconds Discussion Questions: (1) Does the initial setting time satisfy the requirements of the British Standa rds? (2) Discuss briefly the significance of determining the initial and final settin g times. 3 Test 4 Effect of superplasticizer (water reducer): a demonstration The water reducer is used as an aid to increase workability of fresh concrete wi thout increasing water content or maintaining the same workability with a reduce d amount of water (so the strength can be increased). The water reducer is avail able in both liquid and solid form. In this simple test, 100 grams of cement is weighed and 38 ml of water is measur ed. They are strongly mixed in a beaker for 3 minutes. The paste workability sho uld be observed. Then 1 g of KFDN solid powder is added into the paste. After mixing for another 3 minutes, the improved workability can be observed. Test 5 pH value of cement slurry Cement and concrete provides an alkaline environment to prevent the corrosion of reinforced steel. The high alkalinity is due to the presence of hydroxide in th e hydration products. To find the pH of cement slurry, 100 grams of cement and 100 ml of water are mix

ed in a beaker for about 5 minutes. After about 10 minutes, the surface liquid o f the slurry is tested with the pH indicator paper. What is the measured pH value ? NOTE: Tests 4 and 5 are for demonstration and there is NO need to include them i n your laboratory report. 4