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Standard consistency and setting time Apparatus i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Vicat apparatus with vicat plunger 10 mm in diameter Vicat needle Vicat mould Rouging towel Weighing balance

Procedure Standard consistency i. For preparing one mould, 400 g of cement was taken and a paste of cement was prepared with a weighed quantity of water 30% by weight (100 ml) and the time of gauging was kept between 3 to 5 minutes. The gauging time was counted from the time of adding water to the dry cement until commencing to fill the mould. ii. The vicat mould resting was filled upon non-porous plate with this paste. After completely filled the mould in 1 layer, the surface of the paste was smoothen off by single movement palm, making it level with the top of the mould. The mould was mainly slightly shaken to expelled air present in the paste. iii. The test block was placed on the non-porous resting plate. The plunger was attach under the rod and lowered gently until it touch the surface of the block, it then released quickly to allowed it to sunk into the paste the paste. iv. The trial paste was prepared with varing percentage of water (Firstly at an interval of 4% that is the range between 24% and 32% and then at a interval 1% and 0.25% between the percentage range determined by the previous test) and tested as described above until the amount of water necessary making up the standard consistency as defined is found. Setting time of cement i. A neat cement paste was prepared by gauging the cement with 0.85P water. Where P = Standard Consistency as found before. The gauging time was again kept between 3 to 5 minutes. The stop watch was started at the instant when water is added to the cement. ii. The vicat moulds was filled and smoothen off the surface of the paste making it level with the top of the mould. The cement prepared is known test block. iii. For the determination of initial setting time, the test block confined was placed in the mould and resting on non-porous plate. iv. The procedure was repeated until the needle failed to pierce the block for about 5 mm measured from the bottom of the mould. The initial setting time was about 5 mm between the time when the period elapsing between the time when water was added to the cement and the time at which the needle failed. v. For the determination of setting time, the needle of the vicat apparatus was replaced. The cement is considered finally set when upon applying the needle gently to the surface of the

vi.

test block, the needle makes an impression there on, while the attachment fails to do so. In the events of scum forming on the surface of the test block, underside of the block was used for the determination of final setting time. A graph between percentage of water and penetration is drawn in millimeters.

Introduction Consistency refers to the flow behavior of a fresh mixture. Consistency test are normally used to measure the amount of water required to produce standard consistency. The consistency of cement paste depends on the water to cement ratio and on various aspect of the cement such as fineness and rate of hydration. The penetration test, ASTM TEST Method for normal consistency of paste using resistance. The normal consistency is measured using vicat apparatus equipped with plunger and is achieved when the plunger penetrates 101 mm below the original surface. This test is used when preparing paste for measuring setting time. It is very important to know the setting times. Knowing the initial setting time is important in estimating free time for transporting, placing, compaction and shaping of cement paste. The initial setting time is the time dry cement with water till the beginning of interlocking of the gel and final setting time is the time from mixing dry cement with water till the of the interlocking of the gel.

Theory
The Standard consistency is to determine the state of fluidity of the cement paste. The objective of conducting this test is to find out the amount of water need to be added to the cement to get a paste of normal consistency. The paste of a certain standard fluidity will be used to determine the water content of the paste for setting time and soundness test. Setting time is to ensure that the concrete is placed in position conveniently. It is crucial that the initial setting time of cement is not too quick however the hardening should be rapid so that the structure can be made use of as early as possible. The initial set is stage of the process of hardening after which any crack that appear not bring back together. The concrete is finally set after sufficient strength and hardness is obtain. Therefore certain limits for initial and final setting time have to be specified.

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