Chemistry Of Cement Chemistry

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By definition, a pozzolan is “a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous mate¬ria that reacts chemically with calcium hydroxide (lime) to form com¬pounds having cementitious properties.” In early civilizations, natural pozzolans were mixed together with lime to produce hydraulic cements, whereas today natural or artificial pozzolans are usually used together with portland cement. The hydration of the calcium silicate compounds, C3S (or alite) and C2S (or belite), in portland cement produces abundant calcium hydroxide through the reactions represented by following equations (see Table.1 for cement chemistry nomenclature).
2C3S + 11H → C3S2H8 + 3CH
2C2S + 9H → C3S2H8 + CH

Table 1. Cement Chemistry Nomenclature
Abbreviation Formula
S SiO2
A Al2O3
C CaO
F Fe2O3
M MgO
N Na2O
K K2O
S SO3
C CO2
H H2O …show more content…

The actual calcium-to-silicon atomic ratio is typically greater than the value of 1.5 represented by C3S2H8 and may vary up to 2 or more. Because of the variable composition this phase is often simply referred to as calcium silicate hydrate or C-S-H. The C-S-H is the principal cementing compound in portland cement concrete and is largely responsible for providing strength and other properties to the concrete. In addition to C-S-H and CH hydrated portland cement contains aluminofer¬rite phases (AFm and AFt) produced by the hydration of the other portland cement clinker compounds, C3A and C4AF, in the presence of

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