TESTING OF MATERIALS

INTRODUCTION
• Composite man made material.
• Most widely used.
• Consists of rationally chosen mixture of binding material such as lime or cement,
well graded fine & coarse aggregates, water.
• Mix of sand water & cement called as matrix in concrete.
• Freshly mixed concrete is called as green concrete.
• After setting is called as set or hardened concrete.
• Major factors responsible for using cement concrete are mouldability, early
hardening, high early compressive strength, pumpability & durability.
• Versatile in nature.
• Homogenous mixture.
• The coarse aggregate acts as filler.
• The fine aggregate fills up the voids between the paste & coarse aggregate.
• The cement in conjunction with water acts as a binder.
• The mobility of mixture is aided by the cement paste, fines & now a days by
use of admixtures.
• The aim of quality control is to ensure the production of concrete of uniform
strength from batch to batch.
 CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF:-
 Cementing material
• Lime concrete
• Gypsum concrete
• Cement concrete
 Perspective specifications
• Mix proportions

 Performance oriented specifications

• Design mix concrete
 Grade of cement concrete
• Compressive strength of concrete cubes (150 mm )at 28 days
• Also classified as low strength (<20 N/mm2), medium strength (20-40 N/mm2), high
strength concrete (>40 N/mm2)

 Bulk density
• Heavy
• Dense
• Lightweight
• Extra lightweight
 Place of casting
• In situ
• precast
PROPERTIES OF FRESH CONCRETE
• Concrete has completely different properties when it is in the plastic stage & when
hardened.
• In plastic stage it is also known as green concrete.
• Properties of green concrete include:-
 Workability:- ease with which concrete can be fully compacted without segregation &
bleeding. Depends on quantity of water, grading, shape & percentage of aggregates
present.
 Segregation:- separation of coarse particles in green concrete is called segregation.
Happens due to deficient quantity of fine particles or throwing concrete from grater
heights. Cohesiveness losts & honey combing results. Ultimately, loss in strength.
 Bleeding:- appearance of water along with cement particles on the surface. Happens
due to excessive quantity of water or due to excessive compaction. Results in pores
& weak concrete.
 Harshness:- resistance offered by concrete to its surface finish. Difficult to get a
smooth surface finish & concrete becomes porous. Happens due to poorly graded
aggregates or less fine aggregate or less cement mortar.
PROPERTIES OF HARDENDED CONCRETE

• Strength:- compressive strength of 150 mm

cubes at 28 days.M20 is minimum grade to be
used.
• Resistance to wear:-
• Dimensional changes:- concrete shrinks with
age. Approximately 0.0003 of its original.
 Permanent dimension change due to loading
over a long period is termed as creep.
• Durability:- resistance to weathering, chemical
attacks, heat, freezing, thawing.
• Impermeability:- resistance of concrete to
the flow of water through its pores. Excess
water results into pores.
 WATER CEMENT RATIO (W/C
• RATIO)
The water-cement ratio (w/c) is one of the major factors influencing the strength of
concrete.
• It is responsible mainly for the porosity of the hardened cement paste.
• Thus theoretically lower the w/c ratio means higher compressive strength as less
voids
are created.
Definition:
• Water-cement ratio is the water used to the quantum of cement in the mixture by weight.
• For proper workability the w/c ratio varies from 0.4 – 0.6
• However, theoretical maximum strength is derived
at w/c = 0.4 at which minimum capillary cavities are
expected to form.
• It may be noted that for complete hydration of cement
under controlled conditions the water requirement
is about 38 per cent. (i.e. w/c = 0.38)
• When it is decreased to less than 0.4 there is improper
consistency and workability of cement and honeycombed
structure may result.
• Also, at w/c ratio more than 0.6, porosity
increases
Areand strength
there decreases.
any Exceptions:
• However, concrete compacted by displays
vibrator
higher strength even up to w/c = 0.3.
ABHRAM LAW
• Duff Abrahm gave the following equation to estimate the strength of concrete for a given w/c
ratio.

where,
S = Strength of cement at 28 days and A, B are constants
x = Water to cement ratio (w/c)
• According to Abrahm’s law it is evident that strength of concrete depends only upon w/c
ratio provided the mix is workable.
 TESTS ON CONCRETE
• The tests on concrete can be divided on the following lines:
• Tests on Fresh concrete (wet concrete)
• WORKABILITY TEST
• Tests on Hardened concrete
For hardened concrete the most important tests are the assessment of strength of concrete,
which can be assessed by the following tests.
• COMPRESSION TEST
• FLEXURE TEST
• SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH TEST
• NON DESTRUCTIVE TEST
WORKABILITY TEST
• Measurement of workability is done by the following tests:
• Slump cone test
• Compaction factor test
• Vee-Bee Consistometer test
• Kelly ball test
• Flow table test
 SLUMP CONE TEST
• Slump tests in one of the most extensively used test all over the world.
• Dimensions of the mould are bottom diameter = 200 mm, top diameter =
100 mm and height = 300 mm
• Mould is filled in with fresh concrete in four layers, each layer of approximately one
quarter of the height of the mould and tamped with 25 strokes of the rounded end of
the tamping rod.
• Strokes are distributed in a uniform manner over the cross-section
• After the top layer has been rodded, the concrete is struck off level with a trowel or
the tamping rod, such that the mould is exactly filled.
• Mould is remove immediately by raising it slowly and carefully in a vertical direction.
Then the concrete is allowed to subsidized and the slump is measured immediately
by determining the difference between the height of the mould and the highest point
of the specimen being tested.
• Slump measured is recorded in terms of millimetres of subsidence of the specimen.
APPARATUS
TYPES OF SLUMP
TYPES OF SLUMP FOR
VARIOUS WORKS
COMPACTING FACTOR TEST
• This test is more accurate and sensitive than the slump
test especially for it is useful for concrete mixes of medium
and low workability.
• Here the workability is measured in terms of compaction
factor (0.4 , 0.8, 0.9)
• Concrete of very low workability (0.7 or below), this test is
NOT
APPLICABLE
• It is primarily designed for laboratory work but can also
be used in the field.
COMPACTING FACTOR
APPARATUS
PROCEDURE
• Sample of concrete to be tested is placed gently in the upper
hopper, and levelled.
• Trap-door is then opened to allow the concrete to fall into the lower
hopper.
• Concrete which has sticked in the upper hopper at sides is gently
pushed into lower one.
• The trap-door of the lower hopper is opened so that the concrete falls in
the cylinder.
• The excess of concrete remaining above the level of the top of
the
cylinder should be cut and removed.
• Weight of the concrete in the cylinder is then determined, which is
known as weight of partially compacted concrete.
• The entire concrete is filled in cylinder and tamped with tamping rod, and
the weight of concrete in the cylinder is then determined, which is known
as weight of fully compacted concrete.
• Thus compacting factor is defined as the ratio of “weight
of partially compacted concrete to the weight of fully
compacted concrete”

• Compacting factor values for concrete are as follows:

• Higher compacting factor, Higher the workability of

the
concrete.
VEE-BEE
• This test determines the time required for transforming,
CONSISTOMETER
by vibration a concrete specimen in TEST
the shape of a conical
frustum into a cylinder.
• Apparatus consists of a vibrator table resting upon elastic
supports, a metal pot, a sheet metal cone, open at both ends, and
a standard iron rod.
• Slump test is performed in the cylindrical pot of the consistometer
which is a good laboratory test [ONLY] to measure indirectly the
workability of concrete.
• The Slump cone is placed in the cylindrical pot, and slump is
noted. Then the electrical vibrator is switched on and the
TIME TAKEN for the concrete to spread out in the cylindrical
pot is noted in seconds and workability is measured in
VEE-BEE degree.
APPARATUS
COMPARISON OF VALUES OF SLUMP CONE, VEE-BEE,
COMPACTION FACTOR TEST
 PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF
PROCEDURE FOR FLOW TABLE TEST

Equipment for the test - The cone filled with concrete, prior
Flow table, Slump cone to lifting.

The diameter of the resulting flow

is measured
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
• Cement, fine aggregate and Coarse aggregate (upto 38mm) to be
TEST
used for making concrete are weighed in the required ratio to be
used in field and are thoroughly mixed, by adding
requisite amount of water until the concrete appears
homogeneous.
• The test SPCIMENS are cast in the required sizes of cubes,
150mm x 150mm x 150mm or cylinders of 150mm diameter and
300mm height. [D/H = 1/2]
• Test specimens are stored at room temperature for 24hrs from the
time of addition of water to dry ingredients.
• After this time specimens are removed from the moulds and
placed in water and kept there until taken out just before the test.
• Usually specimens are tested for 7 days or 28 days strength, but
IS: 456 suggests only 28 days strength.
• Specimen is placed between the plates of compression testing
machine, gradually load is applied at the rate of
14 N/mm2/minute, until the specimen is crushed.
• Average of 3 specimen values is taken as the
compressive strength of concrete, provided individual variation is
not more than
+/- 15% of the average.
• Generally the Cube specimen strength is approximately equal to
1.25 times the Cylindrical specimen strength. [This is due to the
influence of size of the specimen]
FLEXURAL STRENGTH
• Flexural tensile strength test is done to determine the tensile load
TEST
at which concrete may crack.
• It is an indirect test for assessing the tensile strength of concrete.
• The size of concrete is 150mm x 150mm x 700mm.
• The specimen is placed in the testing machine on two 38mm
diameter rollers with a c/c distance of 600mm. The load is applied
through two similar rollers mounted at the third points, spaced
at 200mm c/c.
• The maximum load at which the specimen fails is noted and from
basics of strength of material, the flexural strength is estimated.
 TENSILE STRENGTH TEST
• The tensile strength may be determined by by split tensile
strength test.
• As it is practically very difficult to apply uniaxial tensile load, therefore
few indirect methods are developed to determine tensile strength
of concrete. Example is the split tensile strength test.
• In split tensile strength test a compressive force is applied to
the
specimen such that specimen fails due to induced tensile stresses.
• Specimen is made of cylindrical shape with diameter not less
than 150mm. Length is generally twice the diameter.
• The maximum load at which the specimen fails is recorded and from it
indirectly the tensile strength of specimen is calculated.
 Failure
plane
Supplement -ail

ary steel bar

150 x 300 _ . i . . ;::..•

mm
concrete
cylinder

Plywoo
d strip
NON DESTRUCTIVE
TESTING
• Non destructive testing (NDT) can be done on both fresh
concrete and hardened concrete.
• On fresh concrete Ultrasonic pulse wave test [PUNDIT] can
be done.
• On hardened concrete Pull Out test, Ultrasonic pulse wave
test [PUNDIT], Schmidt rebound hammer test, Radioactive
Methods.
REBOUND
•
HAMMER TEST
It is a surface hardness test for which an empirical correlation has
been established between strength and rebound number.
• It is based on the principle that the rebound of an elastic
mass depends on the hardness of the surface against which
the mass impinges.
Procedure:
• For this test, a rebound hammer [easily carried] also
called SCHMIDT HAMMER, which weighs about 1.8kg is
required and the test is suitable for both laboratory and field work.
• The Schmidt hammer has a spring-controlled hammer mass
that
slides on plunger with a tubular casing.
• The hammer is forced against the surface of the concrete by
the spring and the distance of rebound is measured on a scale of
the instrument which gives indication of concrete strength.
• This test is suitable for the concrete having strength in the range
of 20 – 26 Mpa.
Limitations:
• Results are mostly affected by factors such as smoothness
of surface, size and shape of specimen, moisture condition
of the concrete, type of cement & coarse aggregate and
extent of carbonation of surface.
PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF
SCHMIDT REBOUND HAMMER
PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF REBOUND
HAMMER TEST
 FIGURE OF SCHMIDT REBOUND
HAMMER TEST BEING CONDUCTED