 Assistant Professor Civil Engineering Department, Dubloy T. Solapur, I am here to discuss with you on topic setting time test on cement and ice specifications. Learning outcomes of today's session, at the end of this session students will be able to describe codal specifications for initial and final setting time test on cement. They will be able to perform initial and final setting time test on cement in laboratory. In actual construction with cement products, which are cement products, cement paste, mortar and concrete, these are the cement products and certain time is required for mixing, transporting, placing, compacting and finishing of the cement products. After addition of water, some time is required for these particular activities. So during this time, these cement products which should be in plastic condition, they should remain in plastic condition and this time interval for which cement products remain in plastic condition is known as initial setting time. So that working of this particular paste or mortar or concrete is possible. Then what is final setting time? Once the concrete is placed in final position, it is compacted, finished, then it should lose its plasticity and this should be possible or this should become at the earliest possible time which will lead to least vulnerability of this particular concrete or this product to external destructive agencies. So this time interval is known as final setting time of cement. Now IS4031 part 5, 1988, this particular IS code is devoted for setting time test on cement and setting time test on cement is performed using Vicats apartus. Now this particular code specifies or gives criteria for exact determination of initial and final setting time. So what is initial setting time? Initial setting time of concrete is the time period between addition of water to cement till the time at 1 mm square section needle penetrate to a 0.5 to 7 mm from the bottom of the Vicat mould. So this particular initial setting time needle which is devised by Vicat is having 1 mm square section and this particular needle should penetrate in the mould of cement paste and this penetration should be between 5 to 7 mm from bottom of the mould. Now what is final setting time? Final setting time is that time period between the time water is added to cement and the time at which this 1 mm square section needle makes an impression on the paste in the mould but the attachment does not make any impression. Now see for final setting time different needle is there in which there is a pointed part, but there is annular attachment to this needle. The point the final setting time will be that time at which this needle will be able to make impression on the paste but the attachment will fail to do so. So that is taken as final setting time of that particular cement. Now specifications are given by IS 269811.12269 for different grades of cement for example for OPC these all three codes give setting time for all the three grades of cement as initial setting time not less than 30 minutes and final setting time not more than 600 minutes. Why initial setting time not less than 30 minutes? Because if quick setting is there it will not be possible to work with this particular cement and sufficient time should be available for workers to place the cement at position and final setting time so as to avoid damage or destruction of concrete if the setting prolongs beyond 600 minutes that means 10 hours. So this is maximum limit. Now let us see the procedure of setting time test. Objective to find initial and final setting time of cement. Apartus used Vicats, Apartus with initial setting time and final setting time needles. Here you can see Vicats Apartus here there is mold these are different needles initial setting time needle final setting time needle this is plunger required for consistency test this is glass plate. Now this particular test shall be conducted at a temperature of 27 plus or minus 2 degree centigrade and the relative humidity of the laboratory should be 65 plus or minus 5 percent. Now let us see step by step procedure. So first step is taking 400 gram of cement weighing accurately on a balance then addition of 0.85 p of water by weight of cement where p is standard consistency of the cement paste. The mixing time should not be less than 3 minutes and not more than 5 minutes. So mixing time is also fixed it should not be less than 3 minutes and not more than 5 minutes. This particular mixture is filled in the Vicat mold now and which is this mold is kept on non porous glass plate. Now this mold is shaken in order to expel any air if is present there so that the cement paste will be wireless and the trouble should be used for gauging this particular cement. Now for initial setting time test what is done the needle of initial setting time whose cross section is 1 mm square is fitted here in the Vicat separters. And now it is brought in contact with the surface of the mold and released quickly. Now once it is released initially this particular needle will penetrate completely remember because cement is wet. But as time passes cement will harden its setting will start and what will happen the penetration of the needle will not be complete. So when this penetration is between 5 to 7 mm from bottom that particular time is noted down the penetration of the needle when 5 to 7 mm from the bottom of the mold is there. That particular time is recorded and the time from addition of water to cement to this particular moment is reported as initial setting time of that particular cement. And this initial setting time should not be less than 30 minutes remember minimum setting time of cement should be 30 minutes. Now let us say final setting time test for determining final setting time test what is done this needle is replaced now replaced with final setting time needle. And this particular needle is having pointed needle in between at the center and annular attachment around it. Now when this particular cement will be called cement paste will be called to be finally set when the needle is needle makes some impression on the paste but the annular attachment fails to do so. So that particular moment is picked up and it is reported as final setting time of cement adding time is measured from addition of water to cement to this particular moment. And remember the final setting time should not be more than 600 minutes that means 10 hours. So there is maximum limit on final setting time this should be noted down. Now here are few revue questions friends solve them as specified by IS 4031 part 5 setting for setting time test on cement amount of water to be added in cement is equal to you have to pick up the correct answer. And second question is according to specifications by IS 269 1989 initial setting time of OPC should not be less than dash minutes and final setting time not more than dash minutes. So solve these two questions write your answers we will pause a while here. Here are the answers answer of question number 1 correct option is B 0.85 P is the correct answer and answer of second question is C option number C 30 minutes and 600 minutes. So initial setting time should not be less than 30 minutes and final setting time should not be more than 600 minutes these are the correct answers. Now here are here is a list of IS code which are used for different tests on cement. So these IS codes are used for different tests on cement here you can see part 5 is used for setting time test. Now these are the IS codes which give specifications of different tests on cement. So these three IS codes are meant for three different grades of cement. These are the references for today's session. Thank you.