A Case Study of the Effect of Clinker Microstructural Changes with the Help of Microscopic Studies on the Technical Characteristics of Cement and its Performance in Concrete

The portion of phases and the quality of clinker crystal formation have a great impact on the performance of cement and concrete obtained from it; however, cement and concrete manufacturers often base their evaluation on chemical analysis or XRF and the values of phases with the help of Bogue formula. Therefore, in this extensive applied study, the relationship between the results of microscopic studies and the technical characteristics of cement and its performance in concrete has been traced. In the first stage, one hundred samples of Portland clinker type II were prepared from Tehran cement and microscopic studies and chemical analysis were performed on them. All clinker samples were grinded in industrial mill and physical and mechanical tests were performed on cement samples. Then laboratory concrete mixtures were made to evaluate the technical characteristics of cement and their performance in concrete. Based on the results of this extensive laboratory operation, innovatively, the microscopic results were summarized quantitatively (numerically). The relationship between the microscopic indicators and the properties of concrete mixtures was observed and its relationships were presented.