What do you need to know about cement?
Cement is the most common building raw-material displaying high level of compressive strength. Cement is commonly mixed with aggregate, additives like waterproofing compounds, and water in the right proportion to prepare the exact material to be used for moulding of building blocks and slabs. The aggregates consist of sand and gravel which are also tested prior to adding to cement. Due to its weakness in tensile strength, reinforcements are commonly used within the building blocks during the moulding/setting of cement concrete. The reinforcement materials are made in the shape of steel bars commonly called TMT. HEICO range of products include almost all the Cement testing equipment generally used in the laboratories of construction organizations, including solutions for cement, concrete, and steel-bars.
The most commonly used test equipment for cement concrete is Compression testing machine or CTM or Cement testing machine, as it is widely known. These are available in various forms like manually-operated, analog, digital, or fully automatic machines. The fully automatic CTMs come with facility to program the test based on the standard being followed. These machines involve the use of sturdy hydraulic power packs, and control systems and computer based control programs and interfaces for retrieving the results.
Besides compression, the building blocks are subject to flexural loading also and therefore require to be tested for flexural loading. Attachments for flexural test are optionally available to add to the basic compression testing machines.
The sample preparation in this category involves the use of moulds for cubes (for compressive testing) and beams (for flexural testing). Cube moulds are allowed a curing time of about 22 days before testing. HEICO cube moulds are manufactured strictly according to standards so that results can be correlated. Cement concrete when tested under load, displays complex behaviours of straining and the same needs to be captured precisely with gauges. HEICO CTMs are available with a variety of optional accessories to match the needs of customers.
TMT reinforcement bars are generally tested for tension and flexure loading. HEICO Universal Servo Hydraulic testing machines are extensively used for this application.
The other common testing instruments used in such laboratories are: Consistency test, permeability, slump test, curing, strain measurement, manhole-cover testing, aggregates testing, jacks, sieves, shakers, etc.
Apart from the destructive testing, cement concrete tests are also carried out with Non-Destructive techniques (NDT) like the ultrasonic rock pulse velocity test, radiography test, etc. on constructed beams and slabs.
Cement concrete testing is generally carried out regularly at building sites
HEICO also offers customized equipment based on customer specific requirements and needs of Cement testing equipment suppliers.
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