Unity University

Building Materials &

construction I
Lecture IV
 Cementing materials
 Cement
 Mortar

Building materials & construction I

Introduction

Cementing Materials
• These are materials with additive and cohesive properties
• They have capable of uniting and bonding solid particles together
• These are: Lime, gypsum, and cement

Cement
• Is additive substance, which when mixed with water form a paste
The paste
• Is temporarily plastic and be molded or deformed
• And later it sets and harden to a rigid mass
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Lime
• It is found in its natural form as a rock of varying degree of
hardness
• Mainly composed of calcium oxide (CaO)
• Lime deposits are generally found mixed with impurities (CO2,
FeO3 and MgCO3 ), this acquire different colors

Production of lime
• It involves burning of the raw materials and then Slaking
• Depending on the amount of heat and the method of slaking, the
product can be hydraulic or non‐hydraulic lime

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A. Quick lime/ Commercial lime

• Burning the natural stone in some

of vertical kilns to a temperature
of 1000 ℃.
• The CO2 is driven off, leaving the
CaO i.e., quick lime or caustic
lime
• White in color and having a
specific gravity of about 3.40.

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B. Hydrated/ slaked lime

• Quick lime can never be used for construction purposes, but

must mix with water. The processes is called slaking or
hydration of lime.
• The resulting product is calcium hydroxide (Ca (OH)2) –
Slacked or Hydrated lime
• It is ready to be made into plaster or mortar by adding water and
sand to form a temporary plastic mass.

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Type of slacking (depending on the amount of water added)
• Wet‐slacking
• Dry‐slacking

Wet‐slacking
• At the building site by mixing quick lime with an excess of water
• Passed through a fine sieve to remove slow slaking particle
• Left to mature for several days
• Stirred by shovel or stick this ‐ reduce all an hydrated particles
(causes popping, pitting and disintegration)

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Dry‐slacking

• It is manufactured in a factory under controlled condition.

• Sufficient water is used to hydrate the quick lime
• then the lumps break in to a dry powder known as dry hydrate
or hydrate lime

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Preserving quicklime
• has much affinity for water and quickly absorb moisture from
atmosphere and air – slacked and loses its cementing qualities
• Therefore kept in dry storage and carefully protect from dampness

Setting and hardening of lime

• Slaked lime hardens or sets by gradually losing its water through
evaporation and absorbing CO2 from the air, thus changing back
from Ca(OH) 2 to CaCO3 or limestone

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Two type of lime
1.High calcium lime
•Pure, white, reach
•High degree of plasticity(workability)
2. Manganese lime(lean) – gray color

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Gypsum plasters
• It is used in arts and building construction
• A combination of sulphate of lime with water of crystallization
• It occurs as
– Hydrous sulphate of lime (CaSO4.2H2O)
75% and 24%
– Unhydrous sulphate of lime little or no water of crystallization

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Gypsum rock contain
• Silica, alumina, lime carbonate, carbonate of magnesia, iron oxide and other
impurities
• Pure gypsum is known as alabstor and
• It is a white translucent crystalline mineral

Properties
• Soft that it can be scratched with the fingernail.
• Fire sensitive
• Sets quickly
• Light in weight
• Never used in places exposed to the weather, moisture, underground moist

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Manufacture of plaster
• Gypsum plasters are manufactured by heating the raw materials at either
moderate or high temperature, the result being plaster of paris or hard–
finish plaster

A. plaster of Paris (stucco)

– gypsum, a good deal of water of crystallization(24% by wt.)
– If some of H2O is driven off at a temperature just above the boiling
point of water 100 ℃., a semi‐ hydrated plaster is obtained which
is known as plaster of Paris.

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Plaster of Paris:
• is white powder having a specific gravity of 2.57
• known as low‐temperature gypsum derivative or semi‐hydrated plaster.
• Sets rapidly (5‐10 minuets)
• Solid mass of fine interlocking crystal is formed
• It attain ultimate or final strength on drying

Disadvantages:
A. Shrinkage
B. Rapid setting
C. Difficult to work
D. Used for ornamental works
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B. Hard‐finish plaster

• By burning gypsum to a considerably higher temperature

• Unhydrous sulphate or unhydrous plaster or high‐ temperature
gypsum derivative is produced
• When mixed with water, plaster of Paris sets very rapidly whereas
hard‐finished plaster sets too slowly
• It is reluctant to reabsorb water
• Less soluble in water

Building materials & construction I

Cement

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Introduction
 Cements are adhesive and cohesive materials which are capable of
bonding particles of solid matter into a compact durable mass.
 Its primary function being to bind the fine (sand) and coarse (grits)
aggregate particles together.
 Cement can be manufactured either from natural cement stones or
artificially by using calcareous and argillaceous materials.
 Examples of natural cements are Roman cement, Pozzolana cement and
Medina cement
 Those of artificial cement are Portland cement and Special cements.

Manufacture of Portland Cement

 It is made primarily from combination of calcareous (lime stone or chalk) and
Argillaceous (silica, alumina found as clay or shale)

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The process of manufacturing consists
• Grinding the raw materials into fine powder
• Mixing – them intimately in predetermine proportion
• Burning – in a large rotary kiln at a temperature of 1400 ℃.
• Cooling ‐ when the material sinters and partially fuses into ball known as Clinker
• Grinding + gypsum feeder

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 Mixing and grinding of the materials can be done either in water or in a dry
condition
 In both process the materials are proportionate, mixed, ground, pulverized
and pumped to a furnace.
 In the dry process the resulting powder is then burnet in its dry condition
 In the wet process the material are mixed with enough water to form slurry.
[30 ‐35% water]
Steps
• The mixture is fed into a rotary kiln
• As large as 5m in diameter and 200m long
• Blown in by air blast at the lower end of the kiln
• Where the temperature may reach about 1500℃.
• The amount of coal required to manufacture 1 tone of cement is 100kg – 350kg
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Changes take place along the process of kiln
1. Any water is driven off
2. CO2 is liberated from the CaCO3
3. The dry material under goes a series of chemical reaction
4. In the hottest part of the kiln, some 20‐30% of the material became liquid.
5. lime, silica, and alumina recombine
6. The mass then fuses into balls 3 to 35 mm in diameter, known as clinker
7. The clinker drops into coolers. The cool clinker‐ black, glistering, hard, and
porous
8. Then fed into ball mills where it is inter‐ground with small quantity of gypsum,
2‐3 % by weight, in order to prevent flash setting( violent chemical reaction) of
the cement
9. Once the desired degree of fineness is reached to about 1.1x1012particles /kg.
10. the cement is conveyed to storage silos from which it is drawn for package in the
familiar paper bags of 50kg. Building materials & construction I
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Manufacturing of Cement

 Calcareous and argillaceous raw materials are used in the

manufacture of Portland cement.
 From the above materials, others like lime, silica, alumina, iron
oxide and small quantities of other chemicals are obtained.
 Cement can be manufactured either by dry process or wet
process.

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Comparison of Wet and Dry Process:
The chief advantages of the wet process are:‐
1. The low cost of excavating and grinding raw materials,
2. The accurate control of composition and homogeneity of the
slurry, and
3. The economical utilization of fuel through the elimination of
separated drying operations.
On the other hand the longer kilns, essential in the wet process, cost
more and are less responsive to a variable clinker demand than the
short kilns which can be used in the dry process.

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Building materials & construction I
Mineral composition of Portland cement
Raw material used in the manufacture of Portland cement consist of mainly of Lime,
Silica, Alumina and Iron oxide

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Constituent of Portland cement
 Setting of cement is a chemical change, caused by dehydration and
crystallization of its chemical constituents
 The initial setting of cement is followed by continuous formation and
growth of crystals.
 100 % of strength is attained at the 28th day

Uses of Portland cement

 For cementing purpose (i.e., for joining two building material of the
same kind or different) e.g. bricks and stone
 For production of a homogeneous building materials, e.g., concrete
(sand + cement+ gravel)

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Type of Portland cement
 The amount of four basic ingredients(C3S,C2S, C3A and C4AF) can be
varied to produce different type of Portland cement, each with some unique
characteristics
Common type
1. Type 10 (ASTM Type I) Normal p.c
2. Type 30 (ASTM Type III) High early strength p.c
3. Type 50 (ASTM Type V) Sulphate resistant p.c
4. Type 20 (ASTM Type II) Moderate p.c
5. Type 40 (ASTM Type IV) Low heat of hydration p.c

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Heat of hydration
• Hydration is the chemical reaction the cement undergoes when brought in contact with
water
• This reaction is exothermic; i.e., accompanied by liberation of heat

Factor affecting the rate of heat of hydration of P.C

1. Cement composition
2. Finesse of cement
3. H2O cement ratio
4. The age of pest
5. Ambient temperature
• The finesse of cement is now a days given in terms of the specific surface which is the
calculated area of the particles in cm2/gm of cement.
• It is measured by Wagner turbid meter test.

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Testing of cement

1. Soundness of Volume It is essential that the cement concrete does not

undergo large change in volume after setting.
2. Constancy of volume, This is a test to estimate the quantity of mixing
water to form a paste of normal consistency defined as that percentage
water requirement of the cement paste. The water requirement for various
tests of cement depends on the normal consistency of the cement, which
itself depends upon the compound composition and fineness of the
cement.
3. Strength,
4. Time of set or activity, and
5. Fineness:‐ Finer the cement, more is the strength since surface area for
hydration will be large.
In order that the results of such tests made by different parties may accord as
nearly as possible, it is necessary that a standard method be rigidly adhered to
and that only experienced operators, who fully appreciate the necessity of
eliminating personal equation from all manipulations, be employed.
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• Determination of initial and final setting times
When water is added to cement, the resulting paste starts to stiffen
and gain strength.
The term setting implies solidification of the plastic cement paste.
Initial and final setting times may be regarded as the two stiffening
states of cement.
The beginning of solidification, called the initial set, marks the point in
time when the paste has become unworkable.
The time taken to solidify completely marks the final set.

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• It is important to know the initial setting time, because of loss of
useful properties of cement if the cement mortar or concrete is placed
in molds after this time.
• The importance of final setting time lies in the fact that the moulds can
be removed after the time.
• The former defines the limit of handling and the later defines the
beginning of development of mechanical strength.

Factors affecting the setting properties of cement

Its composition, the percentage of retardant, degree of calcination,
fineness of grinding, percentage of water used to make cement paste, the
temperature of mixing water, cement and the atmosphere where the
cement paste is placed
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Precaution to avoid the spoiling of cement
1. Keep it in metal containers to store
2. Store it in closed rooms raised of the ground
3. Short storage duration(constant use)
4. Avoid using of impure water for mixing
5. Lack of quality control for cement

Properties of Portland cement

– It’s hydration
– It’s setting and hardening
– It’s gain in strength
– It’s heat liberation
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Factor affecting the properties of Portland cement
• Compound composition
• Firmness of grain
• Percentage of retardant (delay)
• Aeration subsequent to grinding of Clinker
• Water ‐ cement ratio
• Degree of calcination
• Temperature of the mixing water and cement
• Temperature of the atmosphere at the time of mixing
• Humidity of the atmosphere at the time of mixing
• Amount of mixing
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Mortar

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Introduction

 Mortar is a mixture of sand or similar inert particles with cementing

material and water and which has the capacity of hardening into a rock like
mass
 The maximum size of the inert particles in mortar is less than 5mm, and the
cementing material is Portland cement and /or lime

Uses are:
• As joining medium(in brick and stone masonry)
• As surface finish (wall plaster or floor finish)
•As constituent of concrete
•It has a property of resisting high compressive stress

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• In order to produce a durable mortar of required strength and other
essential properties at minimum cost, carful attention must be given to
the selection and proportioning of the component material

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The following Points must be considered:
 The mixture must be workable so that it can be placed and finished
with out undue labor.
 Since the Portland cement is the most costly ingredient in the mixture
the proportion used should be as small as is consistent with the
attainment of desired properties.

Measuring proportions method

 By weight (most accurate)
 Volumetric (at the site)

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Special uses:
– Water proofing
– Acid proofing
– Heat resisting
– Acoustical insulation

Properties of Mortar
• Consistency – it’s ability to preserve its homogeneity and be able to fit form
wall
• Workability – it ‘s ability to placed and compact in forms e.g. Lime mortar
• Strength – Is a function of water/ cement ratio and the activity of binder.
strength is determined by compressive test. e.g., Cement mortar
– Quality of the ingredients
– Their proportion
– The curing method and age
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• Water retentivity – Its ability which prevent it from losing H2O rapidly to
masonry
• Water tightness

To recommend mortar for various condition and utilization the following

points are usually taken into account.
1. Type of masonry unit and its strength, moisture movement and density.
2. Condition of exposure for the treated surface.
3. Temperature, frost… etc. condition during construction.
4. Likelihood of attack by sulphate, saline( salt), minerals … etc. in masonry
units, surrounding soil .

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Batching and Mixing
• Materials used for making mortar should be accurately
measured,(by weight or volume )
• Mixed (by hand or mechanical mixer)
– First at dry state
– Then in wet state
• All cement or cement‐lime mortars should be used within the
first two hours of mixing
• Experience show that:
– a choice from a range of cement, lime and sand mixes in the
proportion of 1:1/2:4, 1:1:6, 1:3:12 by volume will meet more
requirement

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Materials for Mortar
Sand used for making mortar should be
1. Well graded (neither all be fine nor coarse)
– The finer particles help to occupy the space (voids) between the larger
particles,
– thus resulting dense and most economical mortar
2. Clean, free from dust, loam, clay, and vegetable matter because
• They prevent adhesion
• Reduce strength , increase porosity and hardened very slow
3. Injure amount of silt or organic matter should be washed
4. Water for mortar mix should be clean, free from industrial wastes.

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Type of mortar
1. Masonry mortar
– Hydraulic mortar
• Port land cement mortar
• Port land lime mortar
– Air hardening mortar
• Lime mortar
• Gypsum mortar
2. Finish mortar
– Stucco
– Lime plaster
– Gypsum plaster

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