A report on Portland cement

Bags of portland cement wrapped and stacked on a pallet.
Blue Circle Southern Cement works near Berrima, New South Wales, Australia.
Plaque in Leeds commemorating Joseph Aspdin
William Aspdin is considered the inventor of "modern" Portland cement.
Freshly laid concrete
A father and a son in Goma, Congo, in 2017. Cement can cause significant harm to skin.
A 10 MW cement mill, producing cement at 270 tonnes per hour.
Decorative use of Portland cement panels on London's Grosvenor estate
Used tyres being fed to a pair of cement kilns

Most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout.

- Portland cement
Bags of portland cement wrapped and stacked on a pallet.

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Overall
Exterior of the Roman Pantheon, finished 128 AD, the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.

Concrete

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Composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that hardens (cures) over time.

Composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that hardens (cures) over time.

Exterior of the Roman Pantheon, finished 128 AD, the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
Interior of the Pantheon dome, seen from beneath. The concrete for the coffered dome was laid on moulds, mounted on temporary scaffolding.
Opus caementicium exposed in a characteristic Roman arch. In contrast to modern concrete structures, the concrete used in Roman buildings was usually covered with brick or stone.
Smeaton's Tower
Several tons of bagged cement, about two minutes of output from a 10,000 ton per day cement kiln
Crushed stone aggregate
Concrete plant showing a concrete mixer being filled from ingredient silos
Concrete mixing plant in Birmingham, Alabama in 1936
Concrete floor of a parking garage being placed
Pouring and smoothing out concrete at Palisades Park in Washington, DC
A concrete slab being kept hydrated during water curing by submersion (ponding)
Decorative plate made of Nano concrete with High-Energy Mixing (HEM)
Compression testing of a concrete cylinder
Boston City Hall (1968) is a Brutalist design constructed largely of precast and poured in place concrete.
The City Court Building in Buffalo, New York
Aerial photo of reconstruction at Taum Sauk (Missouri) pumped storage facility in late November 2009. After the original reservoir failed, the new reservoir was made of roller-compacted concrete.
Black basalt polished concrete floor
Stylized cacti decorate a sound/retaining wall in Scottsdale, Arizona
Pohjolatalo, an office building made of concrete in the city center of Kouvola in Kymenlaakso, Finland
Assembled tremie placing concrete underwater
Recycled crushed concrete, to be reused as granular fill, is loaded into a semi-dump truck
The Tunkhannock Viaduct in northeastern Pennsylvania opened in 1915 and is still in regular use today
Circularity of Concrete: Cradle-to-Cradle design
A vast concrete structure - The Hoover Dam
Concrete being poured into rebar
Cross section of a concrete railway sleeper below a rail

In the past, lime based cement binders, such as lime putty, were often used but sometimes with other hydraulic cements, (water resistant) such as a calcium aluminate cement or with Portland cement to form Portland cement concrete (named for its visual resemblance to Portland stone).

Cement powder, here conditioned in bag, ready to be mixed with aggregates and water. Dispersing dry cement dust in the air should be avoided to prevent health issues.

Cement

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Binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together.

Binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together.

Cement powder, here conditioned in bag, ready to be mixed with aggregates and water. Dispersing dry cement dust in the air should be avoided to prevent health issues.
Cement block construction examples from the Multiplex Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio, in 1905
Clinker nodules produced by sintering at 1450 °C.
Calcium oxide obtained by thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate at high temperature (above 825 °C).
William Aspdin is considered the inventor of "modern" Portland cement.
The National Cement Share Company of Ethiopia's new plant in Dire Dawa.
Global Cement Production in 2010
Global Cement Capacity in 2010.
Global carbon emission by type to 2018

Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement) set and become adhesive due to a chemical reaction between the dry ingredients and water.

Typical clinker nodules

Cement clinker

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Typical clinker nodules
Hot clinker

Cement clinker is a solid material produced in the manufacture of Portland cement as an intermediary product.

Plaque commemorating Joseph Aspdin in the yard where he lived.

Joseph Aspdin

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Plaque commemorating Joseph Aspdin in the yard where he lived.
Patent nr. BP 5022, "An Improvement in the Modes of Producing an Artificial Stone", Joseph Aspdin, 21 October 1824, page 1/2
Patent nr. BP 5022, "An Improvement in the Modes of Producing an Artificial Stone", Joseph Aspdin, 21 October 1824, page 2/2

Joseph Aspdin (25 December 1778 – 20 March 1855) was an English cement manufacturer who obtained the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824.

Limestone outcrop in the Torcal de Antequera nature reserve of Málaga, Spain

Limestone

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Common type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime.

Common type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime.

Limestone outcrop in the Torcal de Antequera nature reserve of Málaga, Spain
Limestone outcrop in the Torcal de Antequera nature reserve of Málaga, Spain
This limestone deposit in the karst of Dinaric Alps near Sinj, Croatia was formed in the Eocene.
Ooids from a beach on Joulter's Cay, The Bahamas
Ooids in limestone of the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) of southwestern Utah.
Thin-section view of a Middle Jurassic limestone in southern Utah, U.S. The round grains are ooids; the largest is 1.2 mm in diameter. This limestone is an oosparite.
The White Cliffs of Dover are composed of chalk.
Travertine limestone terraces of Pamukkale, Turkey.
Cave limestone formations in the Luray Caverns of the northern Shenandoah Valley
An aerial view of a whiting event precipitation cloud in Lake Ontario.
Akcakoca chert nodules within soft limestone
Macrostylolites in a limestone.
El Capitan, an ancient limestone reef
Mønsted is the largest limestone mine in the world.
Coral reef at Nusa Lembongan, Bali, Indonesia
The Cudgel of Hercules, a tall limestone rock in Poland (Pieskowa Skała Castle in the background)
The Samulá cenote in Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico
La Zaplaz formations in the Piatra Craiului Mountains, Romania.
The Megalithic Temples of Malta such as Ħaġar Qim are built entirely of limestone. They are among the oldest freestanding structures in existence.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World had an outside cover made entirely from limestone.
A limestone plate with a negative map of Moosburg in Bavaria is prepared for a lithography print.
Plastic bag "made mainly from limestone"
Limestone quarry at Cedar Creek, Virginia, USA
Nordkalk's limestone quarry in Pargas, Finland
Cutting limestone blocks at a quarry in Gozo, Malta
Limestone as building material
Limestone is used worldwide as building material.
A stratigraphic section of Ordovician limestone exposed in central Tennessee, U.S. The less-resistant and thinner beds are composed of shale. The vertical lines are drill holes for explosives used during road construction.
Photo and etched section of a sample of fossiliferous limestone from the Kope Formation (Upper Ordovician) near Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Biosparite limestone of the Brassfield Formation (Lower Silurian) near Fairborn, Ohio, U.S., showing grains mainly composed of crinoid fragments
A concretionary nodular (septarian) limestone at Jinshitan Coastal National Geopark, Dalian, China
Limestone from Lake Tai, used in gongshi, a Chinese stone art
Folded limestone layers on Cascade Mountain in Provo Canyon, Utah
Fossils in limestone from the northern Black Sea region
Limestone distribution in Ohio, from "Geography of Ohio," 1923
Chalk is a variety of limestone. It is a softer, and more powdery material.

Limestone has numerous uses: as a building material, an essential component of concrete (Portland cement), as aggregate for the base of roads, as white pigment or filler in products such as toothpaste or paints, as a chemical feedstock for the production of lime, as a soil conditioner, and as a popular decorative addition to rock gardens.

Mortar holding weathered bricks

Mortar (masonry)

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Workable paste which hardens to bind building blocks such as stones, bricks, and concrete masonry units, to fill and seal the irregular gaps between them, spread the weight of them evenly, and sometimes to add decorative colors or patterns to masonry walls.

Workable paste which hardens to bind building blocks such as stones, bricks, and concrete masonry units, to fill and seal the irregular gaps between them, spread the weight of them evenly, and sometimes to add decorative colors or patterns to masonry walls.

Mortar holding weathered bricks
Roman mortar on display at Chetham's School of Music.
Workers prepare mortar in a trough. A 10th-century sculpture from the Korogho church, Georgia.
Laying bricks with Portland cement mortar
Mortar mixed inside a 5-gallon bucket using clean water and mortar from a bag.

The most common binder since the early 20th century is Portland cement, but the ancient binder lime mortar is still used in some specialty new construction.

Hot end of medium-sized modern cement kiln, showing tyres, rollers and drive gear

Cement kiln

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Hot end of medium-sized modern cement kiln, showing tyres, rollers and drive gear
A preheater tower, rawmix silo and exhaust stack. Bottom left: rawmill. Bottom right: rotary kiln with tertiary air duct above. The U-shaped duct leading from the kiln inlet is an "alkali bleed".
Typical clinker nodules
General layout of a rotary kiln
% of North American Capacity using Wet Process
Mean Fuel Energy used in North American Kilns
Cutaway view of cyclone showing air path
4-Stage preheater, showing path of feed
% of North American Capacity using Precalciners
Mean Daily Output (tonnes) of North American Kilns
A pair of kilns with satellite coolers in Ashaka, Nigeria Sysy
Cement plant
Used tires being fed mid-kiln to a pair of long kilns
Online X-ray diffraction with automatic sample feed for free calcium oxide measurement

Cement kilns are used for the pyroprocessing stage of manufacture of portland and other types of hydraulic cement, in which calcium carbonate reacts with silica-bearing minerals to form a mixture of calcium silicates.

William Aspdin

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William Aspdin (23 September 1815 – 11 April 1864) was an English cement manufacturer, and a pioneer of the Portland cement industry.

Simplified crystal structure of belite

Belite

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Simplified crystal structure of belite
Clinker section 0.15 x 0.15 mm

Belite is an industrial mineral important in Portland cement manufacture.

Simplified crystal structure of alite.

Alite

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Impure form of tricalcium silicate, Ca3SiO5, sometimes formulated as 3CaO·SiO2 , typically with 3-4% of substituent oxides.

Impure form of tricalcium silicate, Ca3SiO5, sometimes formulated as 3CaO·SiO2 , typically with 3-4% of substituent oxides.

Simplified crystal structure of alite.

It is the major, and characteristic, phase in Portland cement.