Approaches and Challenges in Investigation of Cement Paste Characteristics

Concrete is a widely used man-made complex material in the construction industry. Fresh properties of concrete have a tremendous effect on the durability and quality of structures. The workability is the crucial fresh property of concrete which is highly influenced by the composition of concrete. Cement paste being one of the most essential constituents of concrete, is highly discussed in this literature review paper. Hence, in order to obtain the desired mix of workable concrete, it is mandatory to determine the cement paste properties such as yield stress and plastic viscosity. This leads to determine the workability of cement paste which will be influenced by the various parameters such as the water cement ratio (W/C), type and dosage of admixtures, temperature and mixing methods. Excess addition of water leads to segregation and decrease the strength of the mix which demands the usage of superplasticizers. This state of art paper aims to describe the standard methods to investigate the cement paste characteristics, as well as the guidelines and vital parameters to rectify the errors during measurement of fresh properties of cement paste. Citation: Rinkal Prajapati, Dr. Parth Thaker. "Approaches and Challenges in Investigation of Cement Paste Characteristics." Global Research and Development Journal For Engineering [ERICE - 2019], Dr. S & S.S. Ghandhy Government Engineering College GTU, (February 2019) : pp. 186 - 189.