All about
cement, types of cement grades and blended cement!
An English brick layer, Joseph Aspdin, in 1824, first
discovered cement and called it Portland cement as it resembled a limestone
found in Portland. The Portland cement is made up of –:
·
Lime (CaO) 60 – 70%
·
Silica (SiO2) 20 – 25%
·
Alumina (Al2O3) 5 – 10%
·
Ferric oxide
(Fe2O3) 2 – 3 %
There
are many types of cement out there for engineering and construction purposes like
Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Sulphate Resisting Portland Cement (SPC) and
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Ordinary Portland Cement should be used for
house construction. It is very important to keep in mind the environment of the
construction site while selecting a type of cement. This is for durability
considerations of buildings and structures. Making a prudent choice now,
regarding a type of cement, saves the repair and restoration costs later and
also, more importantly, avoids the construction of awry and lopsided structures
that may prove calamitous in the future.
The
Ordinary Portland Cement is available in the following types of cement grades:
1. 33 Grade Ordinary
Portland Cement – The fineness of 33 grade OPC should be between 225 and 280.
It has low compressive strength and therefore is not normally used where M-20
or higher grade of concrete is required. It is used for general civil
construction work, plastering, flooring, etc.
2. 43 Grade Ordinary
Portland Cement – It is the most popular general purpose cement in the country
today. It is used where a member takes high tensile stress, for grades of
concrete between M-20 and M-30. RCC works, precast items, asbestos products
such as sheets, pipes, etc are some of the applications of 43 grade OPC.
3. 53 Grade Ordinary
Portland Cement – It is used where concrete grade higher than M-30 is required.
It is suitable for cold weather concreting. Its applications include PSC works,
bridge, roads, multi-storied buildings etc.
BLENDED
CEMENT
DictionaryOfConstruction.com
defines blended cement as a hydraulic cement consisting of an intimate
and uniform blend of (a) granulated blast-furnace slag and hydrated lime, (b) Portland cement and granulated
blast-furnace slag, (c) Portland cement and pozzolan, or (d)
Portland-blast-furnace slag, cement, and pozzolan. Blended cement is produced
by intergrinding Portland cement clinker with the other materials or by a combination of
intergrinding and blending.
The
advantages of using blended cements are so many that now they are being
considered superior to the hitherto deemed best, OPC category of cements. The technical advantages of using blended
cement include –
1. It uses less
water and therefore helps in keeping the water-cement ratio low.
2. Using blended
cement improves durability of structures as it is finer as compared to OPCs and
therefore the permeability of concrete is less.
Using
blended cement also has lower environmental impact. The environmental
advantages of using blended cement include –
1. Blended cements
save energy to the tune of 0.8 to 1.2 MWH/ton of cement.
2. 7% of total
pollution that is caused by cement production alone can be proportionately
reduced if more blended cement is used.
3. Conserves natural
resources.