Concrete on IndustryNet

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The concrete, one of the most used materials in the world, in his basic form presents a mixture of stones, Portland cement, water and sand. Every day this strong material builds houses, bridges, dams and skyscrapers so it is only natural to ask yourself – how concrete is made?

Mixture of Portland cement and water make the paste that goes through some chemical reaction called hydration, that makes her very firm and allows concrete to be strong.The catch is – if you want to get a very strong and long lasting concrete you must mix the ingredients proportionally. Because if mixture does not have enough paste, you can expect:

- Rough surfaces

- Porous concrete

- Non smooth surface

- Easy crack

Portland cement can’t revive without water and those two are the main components of a paste that gives the concrete that famous strength. Actually, cement and water make a paste that covers every part of stone and sand (the aggregates). The quality of the concrete dependson the quality of the paste, and the quality of the paste depends on the water-cement ratio.

In the modern construction of concrete mixtures, preparation is carried out mostly by machines, where this procedure is tantamount to mixing and dosing component materialsin order to obtain a homogeneous mass. This operation is performed in a specially organized checkpoint at a construction site or in a special concrete plant,which are able to supply more than one site with concrete. Separately mixing the mixture has shown that the mixing of cement and water into a paste prior to the addition of aggregate increases the strength of the concrete pressure. The paste should be mixed at high speeds in special mixers.By mixing cement with water you get plastic cement dough - cement paste - that eventually starts to change the physical state and becomes solid.The cause of this change of physical condition is hydration. As the setting time of cement is commonly defined by the period of time from the time of mixing cement and water until the moment when the cement paste loses its plasticity. While the cement mixing is done relatively quickly, hardening process isn’t,it takes a few months to several years. This process is not uniform, initially was very intense, and later slows down asymptotically toward a certain limit value.

Curing starts when the exposed surface of the concrete has hardened enough not to dissolve. This process ensures that the concrete is gaining strength, through the continued hydration of the cement.Curing is done by keeping the surface of the concrete moisturized with water, or by covering it with moisture holding materials. There are also methods that prevent the concrete to lose the water, and it can be done plastic covers or special curing compounds sprays.

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