Cement is an essential part of construction. Here’s a brief history:

The Egyptians used a natural cement made from gypsum, lime and pozzolana, and variations of this were used by the Greeks and Romans. The Romans were the first to use hydraulic cements, using lime to set mortar under water. Roman cement was comprised of slaked lime, volcanic ash, quicklime or burnt lime (calcium oxide) and water. By heating a mixture of limestone and clay in a kiln to form clinker, grinding the clinker with a source of sulfate (most commonly gypsum), and pulverizing the mixture, producers created Portland cement.

Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general usage. It is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar and many plasters. British masonry worker Joseph Aspdin patented Portland cement in 1824. It was named because of its similarity to Portland stone, which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. Aspdin’s cement was made using finely ground chalk mixed with clay and heated in a kiln until it underwent partial calcination or “clinkering”.

In the modern world cement is an essential construction material. It is used to make buildings and roads, to manufacture concrete products and to build infrastructure. But how did it develop?

Cement has a long history, starting with the development of the first hydraulic lime by Romans in 200 BC. This was used for mortars and cements used in building. In 1756 John Smeaton discovered that adding brick dust could improve the strength of these cements. The early 19th century saw the production of portland cement, which is made from a mixture of limestone, clay and gypsum. This cement’s properties allowed it to be used in major engineering projects such as the London Sewage system and the Thames Barrier. Modern cements are produced by heating limestone with clay in kilns at high temperatures. Today we use around 400 million tonnes each year!

A brief history of cement and concrete:

Ancient materials were crude cements made by crushing and burning gypsum or limestone. Lime also refers to crushed, burned limestone. When sand and water were added to these cements, they became mortars and plasters. The Egyptians used calcined gypsum as a cement and the Greeks and Romans used lime made by heating limestone and added sand to make mortar, with coarser stones for concrete.

The Romans found that a cement could be made which set under water and this was used for the construction of harbours. These materials were later called “hydraulic cements”. The secret was in burning a mixture of limestone and clay together to form “clinker”, then grinding it into a powder.

Cement has not changed much in the last hundred or so years! It is still made from limestone, clay, sand and iron ore, heated in a kiln at 1450°C to clinker – which is then ground to a powder with gypsum to make Portland cement

It is used in the construction of buildings, bridges, dams, and other structures. Cement is a finely powdered substance, which possesses strong adhesive properties when combined with water. This combination, or concrete, is then used as a basis for construction.

Cement is made by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) with small quantities of other materials (such as clay) to 1450°C in a kiln. The resulting hard substance, called ‘clinker’, is then ground with a small amount of gypsum into a powder to make ‘cement’, the most commonly used type of cement.

The first step in making cement is to quarry the principal raw materials, mainly limestone, clay, and other materials. After quarrying the rock is crushed. This involves several stages. The first crushing reduces the rock to a maximum size of about 6 inches. The rock then goes to secondary crushers or hammer mills for reduction to about 3 inches or smaller.

The crushed rock is combined with other ingredients such as iron ore or fly ash and ground mixed and fed to a cement kiln. The cement kiln heats all the ingredients to about 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit in huge cylindrical steel rotary kilns lined with special firebrick.

It is a fine powder, obtained from the calcination at 1,450°C of a mix of limestone, clay, and iron ore. The product of the calcination process is clinkerthe main ingredient of cementthat is finely ground with gypsum and other chemical additives to produce cement.

The most common use for Portland cement is in the production of concrete. Concrete is a composite material consisting of aggregate (gravel and sand), cement, and water. As a construction material, concrete can be cast in almost any shape desired, and once hardened, can become a structural element.

The word “cement” traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed rock with burnt lime as binder. The volcanic ash and pulverized brick additives that were added to the burnt lime to obtain a hydraulic binder were later referred to as cementum, cimentum, cäment, and cement·

Cement, in general usage, is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. Cement used in construction is characterized as hydraulic or non-hydraulic. Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement) harden because of hydration, chemical reactions that occur independently of the mixture’s water content; they can harden even underwater or when constantly exposed to wet weather. The chemical reaction that results when the anhydrous cement powder is mixed with water produces hydrates that are not water-soluble. Non-hydraulic cement does not set in wet conditions or under water. Rather, it sets as it dries and reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals after setting.

The most important uses of cement are as an ingredient in the production of mortar in masonry, and of concrete, a combination of cement and an aggregate to form a strong building material. Cement is also used in mortars (with sand and water only), for plasters and screeds, and in grouts (cement/water mixes squeezed into gaps to consolidate foundations, road-beds, etc.).

Concrete production is the process of mixing together

The earliest known occurrence of cement was twelve million years ago. A deposit of cement was formed after an occurrence of oil shale located adjacent to a bed of limestone burned due to natural causes. These ancient deposits were investigated in the 1960s and 1970s. On a human timescale, these are very ancient deposits—over 100,000 years old.

Cement is used as a construction material for millions of years. It is an essential binder in concrete and mortar, which are used extensively in buildings and civil engineering works. It is also used as a binding material in mortar, plaster, asbestos products, roofing felts, floor tiles, etc.