Abstract
The performance of Portland cement in concrete or mortar formation is very well influenced by chemical compositions among other factors. Many engineers usually have little information on the chemical compositions of cement in making decisions for the choice of commercially available Portland cement in Ghana. This work analyzed five different brands of Portland cement in Ghana, namely, Ghacem ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and Portland limestone cement (PLC), CSIR-BRRI Pozzomix, Dangote OPC, and Diamond PLC. The chemical compositions were analyzed with X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer. Student’st-test was used to test the significance of the variation in chemical composition between standard literature values and each of the commercial cement brands. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also used to establish the extent of variations between chemical compositions and brand name of the all commercial Portland cement brands. Student’st-test results showed that there were no significant differences between standard chemical composition values and that of commercial Portland cement. The ANOVA results also indicated that each brand of commercial Portland cement varies in terms of chemical composition; however, the specific brands of cement had no significant differences. The study recommended that using any brand of cement in Ghana was good for any construction works be it concrete or mortar formation.
Highlights
Portland cement is without any argument among the most important and necessary materials in the world
The compositions of the various oxides in the commercial Portland cement shown in Figure 1 fall within the requirements of cement oxide compositions provided by Lea [7] and Neville [12] who obtained similar compositions but at different percentages in their studies
The chemical compositions of commonly used Portland cement in Ghana were analyzed with both spectroscopic analysis and statistical tools
Summary
Portland cement is without any argument among the most important and necessary materials in the world. The construction industry that utilizes huge tonnages of concrete annually would struggle to survive. Concrete is rated as the second most highly consumed product after water [1]. It is known that some developed countries depend on the construction industry as one of the main pillars for the growth of their economies. The construction industry provides many jobs for people in both the formal and the informal sectors. Any shortfall that stagnates the construction industry usually leads to serious economic slump
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