Effect of clinker free lime and cement fineness on the cement physicochemical properties

This research aims to clarify the effect of free lime content and the cement fineness on the cement physicochemical properties. the free lime content by a titration method was observed and the cement fineness was determined by sieving at 40μm. a detailed experimental program was carried out in order to evaluate the extent to which free lime content in clinker and cement fineness can be tolerated. some basic and durability properties of cement with varied free lime contents and fineness were considered. the studied basic properties consisted of normal consistency,autoclave expansion,initial and final setting time also compressive strength. two distinct types of cements were obtained from two different sources,and free lime was added to obtain overall free lime contents in order of < 2% and > 2%. the cement fineness at 40μm was varied between 17.0 and 31.9%. experimental results revealed that physical properties such as normal consistency and water requirement were affected by free lime and by cement fineness that had slight chemical effects on cement properties,i.e.,faster setting,lower compressive strength,especially at early age,and higher autoclave expansion. regarding durability,mixtures with the high free lime clinker led to higher expansion due to alkali-aggregate reaction. the expansion was smaller than that of cement prepared with clinker which has free lime content lower to 2%. © 2017 university of mohammed premier oujda morocco.