Cement After Expiry Date: Effect in the Concrete Properties

Abstract

Portland cement has been widely used around the world to produce concrete. When Portland cement is not used correctly, following the normative prescriptions, its use can compromise the aesthetics and the safety of structures. The present research consisted of analyzing the workability of concrete in fresh state and compressive strength in its hardened state when using Portland cement with expired date higher than 90 days defined by the Brazilian standard NBR. For the tests, three cements were selected with different manufacturing dates: November 2018, July 2019 and August 2020. The workability was assessed through the slump test and the compressive strength test at the ages of ages 1, 7, 14 and 28 days. The mix used was for a compressive strength of 25 MPa at the age of 28 days. The slump tests showed divergent values regarding to the expired cements, leading to inconclusive findings, because even with the w/c change, the slump achieved for the 2019 cement-based concrete was lower than that recommended for common concrete. It was concluded that the compressive strength decreased for concretes produced with expired cement. (c) 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.