A fineness test of cement is performed to determine the particle size of cement. The particle size of cement is calculated by sieving cement on the standard sieve.
Basically, there are two tets to determine the fineness of the cement.
- Sieving Method.
- Air Permeability Method
In this blog post, we will discuss the sieving method.
In the fineness test particle size greater than 90 microns are determined.
Apparatus to Determine Fineness Test of Cement
The following apparatus is used to perform a fineness test by using sieve analysis.
- 100g of cement
- Weighing balance
- Standard Sieve of size 90 µm
- Sieve pan with lid
- Sieve Shaking Machin
You can see all of these in the figure given below.
Test Procedure to Determine Fineness of Cement:
- Rub the cement sample with the hand to avoid any lump in the cement sample.
- Consider 100-gram cement as W1.
- Pour this cement sample into a 90 µm sieve and close it with the lid.
- Put the sieve with cement sample in the sieve shaking machine for 2-3 minutes.
- Consider remaining residue on the 90 µm sieve as W2.
- Now determine the percentage of the weight of cement-retained on Sieve.
- Repeat this procedure three times and calculate the average value.
Percent of cement retained on sieve = (w2/w1) x 100.
Good quality cement should retain at least 10% of the total weight of the cement sample.