HOW QUALITY OF CEMENT IS CHECKED AT SITE

HOW QUALITY OF CEMENT IS CHECKED AT SITE

Cement is probably the costliest ingredient in concrete. Strength of Concrete structures is largely affected by quality and type of cement used in construction. 

HOW QUALITY OF CEMENT IS CHECKED AT SITE

Both from economic and safety point of view it is very much advicable to check the quality of cement by thorough inspection. In this post we are going to discuss some simple yet useful methods that are very popular for this purpose and are commonly used in sites.

HOW QUALITY OF CEMENT IS CHECKED AT SITE

Lets discuss them one by one.

1. DATE OF PACKAGING:

Strength of cement reduces with time. So the date of packing given by manufacturer should be checked prior to buying. Cement should be used before 90 days from packaging date. For a better clarity the percentage of lose in strength of cement with respect to time is given in the following table.

QUALITY OF CEMENT

2. COLOUR OF CEMENT:

Cement of good quality has gray colour with greenish shade. The colour should be uniform throughout.

3. CHECK FOR LUMPS:

No lumps should be present in the cement. Lumps are formed due to absorption of moisture from the climate.

4. RUBBING TEST:

Cement should feels smooth while the rubbing in between fingers. If it  gives the rough feeling that mean cement is mixed with the sand.

5 TEMPERATURE TEST:

Simply inserts your hand into cement bag, It should give cool feeling if its quality is good. Otherwise, you may feels warm because of the hydration reaction.

6. FLOAT TEST:

Take some amount of the cement and throws  it in water. The cement should floats for sometimes before it sinks in water.

7. SETTING TEST:

Make a thick cement paste with the water and immerse it in water for 24 hour. It should be sets and should not develops cracks.

8. STRENGTH TEST:

Prepares a cement block of 25 mm x 25 mm and 200 mm in the length. Now submerge it in the water for seven days. Now place it on the supports 15cm aparts and load it with the 34 kg weight. Block mades from good cement will not show the any signs of failure.