Heavy Duty Made Easy: Particle Size Analysis for the Cement Industry
The particle size range of Portland cement and quick cement was analyzed with the Litesizer DIF, using the technique of laser diffraction. The results exemplify that looking at the particle size distribution alone is enough to be able to differentiate between the different types.
Cement as a binding material plays a prominent role in construction since antiquity, and hasn’t lost its importance until today. It is made by baking a mixture of limestone (CaCO3), clay (mainly SiO2 and Al2O3) and minority constituents such as iron oxide, at 1450 °C. The resulting product is a rock-like substance called clinker, which then gets mixed and grinded with small amounts of gypsum (CaSO4) to form the fine powder we know as Portland cement. Particle size analysis is involved at almost every step of the production process.
Quick cement, however, is a tertiary mixture of Portland cement, sand and gravel. This translates to a broader particle size distribution (PSD) of the product.
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