ABSTRACT
Cement, a widely used binder, is discussed in this chapter. The production process and chemical composition of cement are essential to understand its basic chemistry. In the modern construction practice, usage of supplementary cementitious materials which are alternatives to the conventional cement becomes common, salient points of pozzolans and their testing methods are explicitly presented for fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, silica fume and metakaolin. Step-by-step test procedures for cement and alternative cementitious materials including consistency of cement, setting times, soundness, compressive strength, Blaine’s air permeability test, strength activity index test, lime reactivity test are described. Moreover, allowable limits for various test methods are specified in the required places as per international standards to compare the obtained results with standard specifications.
