What is in the composition of cement?

Cement - one of the main building materials used in this area since ancient times. The composition of cement includes a number of inorganic substances, which, when interacting with water, form a so-called solution. Due to the set of certain physical qualities, when dried, this solution hardens.

The cement is produced in several ways, but most of it uses two basic ones: dry and wet. Its manufacture is quite expensive and energy-intensive. The so-called sludge in its original form is loaded into a special furnace, after which the clinker is sintered. During the manufacturing process, the furnace continuously rotates, so that the clinker in it is evenly mixed. This allows you to make the mixture more uniform and evenly melted.

The cement contains iron oxide. It has a very great influence on the overall quality of the resulting mixture of cement. Cement of the highest quality - with an iron oxide content of about 10%. With this ratio, oxides have the most favorable effect on the formation of minerals. But in all the measure is needed, therefore, with the increase in the amount of iron oxide in the cement composition, its overall quality also decreases.
The maximum permissible limit is 25% iron oxide. As is known, cement is also used for the construction or formation of heat-resistant structures and structures. In this case, the presence of iron oxides is unacceptable. In addition, the amount of iron directly affects the color of cement: the lighter it is, the less the percentage of additives. Gray cement, in contrast, has in its composition the highest content of iron oxides.

If you continue to disassemble the chemical composition of cement, then you can find in it and aluminum oxide. The greatest amount of aluminum oxide contained in the cement makes it heat resistant. In high-quality cement, the content of this substance is about 60%.

In addition to the above oxides, the composition of cement includes oxides of calcium, silicon, magnesium. Manufacturers of cement are actively struggling to ensure that their products do not contain chromium oxides, which is an active metal and enters into unwanted chemical reactions.

Depending on the composition of cement, it is subdivided into species having different physical properties: gypsum-slag, fast-setting, ash, aluminous, gypsum-aluminous and waterproof.

Various active mineral additives are added to the cement to improve its quality. They are of an artificial or natural origin. Cement additives give it different properties: improve its workability and increase fluidity, improve extensibility, reduce shrinkage, change plasticity and density. In addition, the addition of these substances contributes to the durability and strength of cement mortars.

Additives in cement are used not only to improve some of its individual physical properties, but also to change, for example, color. For this purpose, you can use ordinary paint.