Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
2020
Year
2.1
Worldwide annual cement production for the period 1925-2009.
Data from Kelly and van Oss (2010).
Table 2.1
Chemical formulae and cement nomenclature for major constituents
of Portland cement. Cement chemistry abbreviation: C
=
CaO, S
=
SiO
2
,
A
=
Al
2
O
3
, F
=
Fe
2
O
3
. Also water is abbreviated as H
=
H
2
O. (Hewlett, 2004)
Mineral
Chemistry
Oxide composition
Abbreviation
%
Tricalcium silicate
(alite)
Ca
3
SiO
5
3CaO.SiO
2
C3S
50-70
Dicalcium silicate
(belite)
Ca
2
SiO
4
2CaO.SiO
2
C2S
15-30
Tricalcium
aluminate
Ca
3
Al
2
O
4
3CaO.Al
2
O
3
C3A
5-10
Tetracalcium
aluminoferrite
Ca
4
Al
n
Fe
2-n
O
7
4CaO.Al
n
Fe
2-n
O
3
C4AF
3-8
the abundance of its major natural constituents (calcium and silica) in the
earth's crust (responsible for its current low price), and technical advan-
tages over other construction materials (timber, steel, composites, etc.), it
is highly unlikely that any other material will displace concrete from the
construction industry, at least in the foreseeable future.
Concrete is essentially a composite consisting of a binding matrix (cement
paste) with embedded particles (aggregates). Cement paste is the resulting
product of the complex chemical reactions that take place between cement
(see Table 2.1 for typical compositions) and water (Double and Hellawell,
1976). Aggregates could be sand, gravel, crushed stone, crushed blast-fur-
nace slag, or demolition waste and are usually separated by their size.
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