The effect of different sources of ordinary Portland cement on some properties of concrete mixes

Abstract

With the remarkable urban development and the great importance of the construction sector for the advancement of the country, and given the widespread use of concrete in construction, it is extremely important to ensure that concrete mixes have the best properties and to monitor their quality. and since cement is a basic component of concrete mixes and has a fundamental impact on their quality, this study was conducted to compare some of the cement sources available in the local market, namely Al-Ittihad, Al-Marqab, Al-Arabiya, Al-Binyan, Labda, and Egyptian Cement (Helwan) in several aspects, namely initial and final setting time, economic cost, and comparison of the concrete mix for each type in terms of its compressive strength and workability, and to determine the best type among them by conducting a slump test and compressive strength test at 7 days and 28 days. The rest of the concrete mix components were standardised in order to focus on the effect of cement alone, without any other factors, to make the comparison more accurate.

It was concluded that Al-Marqab cement gave the shortest initial setting time, with a value of 175 minutes, while Al-Ittihad cement gave the longest setting time, with a value of 185 minutes. Egyptian Helwan cement gave the shortest final setting time, with a value of 210 minutes, while Al-Ittihad cement gave the longest time, with a value of 240 minutes, and Al-Binyan cement gave the lowest workability, with a value of 70 mm. Al-Ittihad cement gave the highest slump value, with a value of 110 mm, and Al-Binyan and Labda cement gave the lowest compressive strength at 7 days, with a value of (20 MPa), while Al-Ittihad and Al-Arabiya cement gave the highest value of (28 MPa). Al-Binyan cement gave the lowest compressive strength at 28 days, amounting to (25 MPa), Arabia cement gave the highest value of 36 MPa, and Al-Binyan cement gave the lowest value in terms of average economic cost, at 41 dinars per tonne, while Al-Ittihad cement gave the highest value, at 45.33 dinars per tonne.