COMPARATIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME PORTLAND CEMENTS SOLD IN SOKOTO CITY.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research was to characterize some Portland cements (Bua, Dangote and Sokoto cement) sold in Sokoto city using standard methods; due to the persistent collapse of buildings. The results showed that Sokoto cement recorded the least CaO content (58.99%) while Dangote cement had the highest CaO content being 61.56%. All the samples have Al2O3, SiO2 and Fe2O3 contents within the acceptable limits with the exception of Dangote with SiO2 content being below the required standard. The MgO and SO3 compositions were generally below the recommended limit; C3S content in De was above the recommended limit. The C3A, C4AF, LSR, AR and SR of all the brands of cement were within the recommended standards for general purpose cement. The longest setting time for the cement samples was recorded in Sokoto; LOI and IR were significantly high in all the samples. Bua and Dangote cement cements had the highest compressive strength of 40.44 and 31.75 N/mm2 respectively after 7 days. The result indicated that most of the properties of the three brands of cements are comparable with the specification of American Standard for Testing and Materials (ASTM), British Standards Institution (BSI) and Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and are all of good quality.