STANDARD CONSISTENCY OF CEMENT

Apparatus Required

• Vicat apparatus as per IS 5513-1969
• Vicat mould
• Plunger for determining standard consistency

The procedure of the test

• Take 400 gms of cement sample, add known quantity of water and gauge properly for not less than 3minutes and more than 5 minutes. The time is counted from the time of adding water to dry cement until commencing to fill the mould.
• Fill the mould which is placed on the non-porous base plate, after completely filling the mould, smooth off the surface of the paste making it level with the top of the mould.
• Immediately place the test mould under the plunger along with the non-porous base plate, lower the plunger gently to touch the surface of the test block and quickly release it to sink into the paste.
• From the scale provided on the apparatus verify the depth of penetration of plunger from the bottom of the mould, repeat the above process until a penetration value of 5 to 7 mm from the bottom of the mould is reached.
• The percentage of water added to achieve the required penetration is the standard consistency percentage of cement.

Datasheet determination of consistency, initial and final setting time of cement