All of you must be aware how CEMENT has been the cornerstone of all the building materials worldwide.

You have been seeing cement getting used in so many forms in the daily lives, be it manufacture of home, making and using concrete, masonry, plastering, finishing... and the list will go on.

But, do you have any idea how CEMENT IS MADE?

Some of you would perhaps be knowing, but for all of those who don't let us ask our readers to submit their brief write ups explaining the process of CEMENT MANUFACTURING.

The write up must be 200 to 400 words long and may correlate the steps with that of the numbers depicted in the process diagram representation herein above.

The best write up shall receive a quality gift hamper and the best of entries posted here on BRICKS-n-MORTAR.

Send in your entries by 28/Feb/2010 to <team (at) bricks-n-mortar (dot) com>. 
So, hurry, we shall be waiting to hear from you.

After completing all the requisite planning, fine tuning of budget as well as manpower arrangement for the repair/ modification works for his home, Mr. Singh's never anticipated that he'll be bombarded with a dozen of questions at the cement vendor's shop as what kind of cement he required for the works. The technical jargon used by the vendor in naming the cement products were feeling like awkward bouncers and bodyliners that have undoubtedly troubled almost all the cricket batsmen on the field. Mr. Singh had never bothered in his planning as which kind of cement he would be requiring while carrying out the tedious planning. He had always known cement as cement, and never as:

• OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement),
• PPC (Pozzolana Portland Cement),
• PSC (Pozzolana Slag Cement),
• SRC (Sulphate Resisting Cement),
• White Cement,
• Quick Setting Cement, etc. etc. etc

Or in that matter of fact as:

• 33-grade,
• 43-grade, or
• 53-grade.

Like Mr. Singh, the majority of masses and classes have no idea to similar queries of the cement vendors (barring the ordinary shopkeepers, who themselves don't know beyond the word- 'CEMENT'). The last resort left with Mr. Singh was to tell the vendor to give him whichever type the vendor felt right. And no doubt, like most of the vendors would have done in such a situation, Mr. Singh was handed over the type of cement bags, which had huge profit margins for the vendor.

• HAVE YOU ALSO EXPERIENCED BEING LIKE Mr. SINGH'S AT SOME POINT OF TIME?
• DO YOU ALSO HAVE PLANS TO GET CARRIED OUT SOME CEMENT BASED WORK IN THE NEAR FUTURE AND DON'T KNOW WHICH CEMENT PRODUCT TO BUY?

As we pointed out earlier, a number of people like you and me would identify themselves with Mr. Singh. We suggest keep looking out for this space here on BRICKS-n-MORTAR wherein we would try to let you know the basics of CEMENT, and to what you require for different type of works.

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Sharing an informative article found over internet on World Cement Demand forecast by the year 2010

[Source: the-infoshop.com]

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Quote...

WORLD CEMENT DEMAND TO REACH 2.8 BILLION METRIC TONS IN 2010

Global demand for cement is forecast to grow 4.7 percent annually through 2010 to 2.8 billion metric tons, valued at over $200 billion. China, which is already by far the largest market for cement in the world, will register the biggest increases. Product demand in the country is projected to expand more than the total amount of cement currently used annually in the next two largest markets -- India and the US -- combined. These and other trends are presented in World Cement, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Other developing parts of Asia and Eastern Europe, as well as a number of nations in the Africa/Mideast and Latin America regions, will also record above average cement market gains, fueled by a robust construction outlook. Product demand in India, for example, will climb at a healthy 6.4 percent annual rate. Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey and Indonesia will register some of the strongest increases in percentage terms. Market advances will be less robust in the developed areas of the US, Japan and Western Europe, with maintenance and repair construction accounting for much of the growth in cement demand through 2010. However, a pickup in construction activity in Germany and Japan following an extended period of decline will help bolster overall developed world market gains.

Demand for straight Portland cement, which currently accounts for more than three-quarters of all cement sales worldwide, will be healthy, spurred by increases in global construction spending and further advances in manufacturing technology. Sales of blended cements will climb at a somewhat faster pace through 2010, driven by their superior performance in selected applications. Demand for non-blended pozzolanic cements, masonry cement and other types will record the strongest gains.

Ready-mix concrete is expected to be the fastest growing market through 2010, surpassing consumer sales to become the largest single cement market. Ready-mix concrete companies account for a comparatively small but rising share of total cement demand in a number of fast-growing developing countries, and suppliers will benefit from an extremely favorable outlook in China, where large-scale construction projects will require significant amounts of ready-mix concrete. Consumer demand for cement will also expand at an above-average rate, stimulated by higher personal income levels in developing areas, where consumer sales can account for half or more of all cement demand, and by new product introductions in mature developed world markets.

WORLD CEMENT DEMAND (million metric tons)
% Annual Growth
Item	2000	2005	2010	05/00	10/05
Cement Demand	1630.0	2250.0	2830.0	6.7	4.7
North America	149.6	170.0	196.0	2.6	2.9
Western Europe	197.7	208.5	233.0	1.1	2.2
Asia/Pacific	954.5	1470.0	1895.0	9.0	5.2
Other Regions	328.2	401.5	506.0	4.1	4.7

...Unquote

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[Disclaimer: The sharing of this article is done only for non-commercial, knowledge sharing purpose as a piece of information. Team.Bricks-n-Mortar does not stand by the facts and figures of the article, or hold any personal or professional opinion in this relation whatsoever.. In case of any kind of copyright infringement or objection to the original author and/or publisher, please inform Bricks-n-Mortar.com, and the content will be taken off the blog]

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[Filed under "Web-Share, NewsOfUse, Cement" category(ies) by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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An anonymous visitor surfing through our site yesterday posted a comment on one of B-n-M's previous posts (Titled: "[Tips'n'Bits]: Do You Know Which Cement Type To Buy & Use?") and posed a nice question for us to ponder upon.

The question was--- "Whats the difference between type N and Type 1 or 10 cement?"

Now, frankly speaking, Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com doesn't have a straight forward answer to his/her question since we don't know as which part of the world this respected visitor hails from, and to which country's and/or global region's Cement Standards would be applicable there.

Now, so as to bring the other layman visitors reading this article also on a comfortable frequency of this discussion, it will prudent to describe to them in brief that Cement can be differentiated into various categories and types depending upon various product mix types/ names/ ingredient compositions/ grades/ fineness moduli/ characteristic strength factors/ setting times/ chemical & inert properties/ and a gamut of so many other features. Another most important factor for designating cement is the region of the world where this cement is produced or used.

For example, the United States of America will be designating cement based upon their ASTM standards, while the European standards would designate cement in terms of European codes of practice.

Other countries, like India, would differentiate cement based upon ingredient product mix type, viz., OPC (ordinary portland cement), PPC (pozzolanic portland cement), PSC (pozzolanic slag cement), SRC (sulphate resisting cement), etc. besides differentiating by the grades (33-grade, 43-grade, 53-grade, which essentially represent the fineness index of the cement in terms of blaines as how much finer the cement is. Just to add on to it, the more fine the cement, the more quickly it will set, and the more heat of hydration it will produce while attaining the strength. Now, people may think thats good, but the reality is that for ordinary house related construction works, more/quick heat of hydration produced may result in cracks and uneven shrinkages if the curing is not done adequately).

Cement is also differentiated by certain countries by type of usage, like different grades for housing, masonry, concrete, precast elements, foundations, etc. (e.g., CEM II/A-LL 42.5 R, which is Swedish cement for housing; or like CEM I or CEM II / A – S, L, V or W and CEM II / B – S, L, V or W 42,5, or like masonry cement: MC 12, etc. etc. etc.)

Ooops, seems like this answer (or should we say, an attempt to answer as near as possible to the query) is shaping up like a big discussion board without actually knowing which direction exactly it needs to head. And it seems to be wise to kindly request our Anonymous query sender to please guide us further. Other readers/subscribers/patrons of this blog may also pour in their insight. We shall form their inputs as part of this post.

Last, but definitely not the least, would again thank all our readers who show in interest, help answering other people's queries and make the purpose of this blog4social cause meaningful. WE THANK YOU ALL WHOLE HEARTEDLY FOR CONTRIBUTING.

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[Filed under "Readers' Queries, Cement" category by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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