Basic Civil Engineering

Chapter 4

Cement

Natural cement is brown in colour. It sets very quickly after the addition of water and is not as strong as artificial cement, and hence it has limited use.

It was in the eighteenth century that the most important advances in the development of cement were made, which finally led to the invention of Portland cement. In 1756, John Smeaton showed that the hydraulic lime which can resist the action of water can be obtained not only from hard lime but also from a limestone which contains a substantial proportion of clay.

In 1796, Joseph Parker found that the modules of argillaceous limestone made excellent hydraulic cement when burnt in the usual manner. Later, several experiments with several mixtures of limestone and argillaceous ...