Ingredients of concrete

Mastour ReadyMix is a Ready mix Concrete, cement and related construction materials and services company Jeddah Saudi Arabia

The basic ingredients of concrete are as given below

Cement

It is the most important and costliest ingredient of concrete. The mix-design of concrete indirectly means optimizing the use of cement for obtaining the desired properties of concrete in green as well as hardened state. It affects the overall economy of the structure too. Different types of cements are available for different type of structures and different types of locations. Judicious selection of cement is necessary for the longevity of the structure.

Aggregate

The aggregates give volume to the concrete because these occupy maximum space in the total volume of concrete. Efforts should be made to usemaximum quantity of aggregates as these increase thevolumetric stability of concrete and make the mix-design

more economical.

Water 

It is indispensable because it is required for reaction of hydration. But its use should be restricted to minimum as possible considering the requirement for chemical reaction with cement and workability only. Any excess water is destined for evaporation, leaving capillary-pores in the concrete. Eventually, strength and durability both will be adversely affected when water is excessive.

Admixture

It is an optional ingredient which is used only for some specific purpose. It is used to modify some of the properties of concrete like setting time, workability or surface finishing characteristics etc. But admixture shouldnot be used to compensate for bad quality of concrete instead it should be used as a supplement to good construction practices. Though the newer versions of concrete i.e. HPC, RMC and SCC, the use of admixtures has become indispensable.