Physical Properties of Different Brands of Cement Manufactured in KPK, Pakistan: A Case Study

One of the key elements affecting structural concrete's strength and longevity is the cement's quality. In Pakistan, large amounts of cement are utilized in construction projects. This study appraised some physical properties of five brands of Portland cement bought from cement industries in KPK. Cement brands are investigated, including Cherat cement, Askary cement, Luckey cement, Kohat +, and Bestway cement. The composition of the cement has been recorded from the cement bags. Each initial setting time, normal consistency, final setting time, fineness, and compressive strength cement samples (collected as bags from the market) have been tested in the laboratory at three days, seven days, 14 days, and 28 days per ASTM standards. Amongst these various cement brands in KPK, we aim to investigate the best cement brands taking into consideration the above all physical test and then test these brands after three months. Taking time as a factor, the best cement quality is to be found. According to the fineness of cement, Cherat cement is found to be the best amongst all five brands of cement when tested initially, while lucky and Kohat were the least in fineness properties. Consistency tests were performed for all brands of fresh types of cement, and Cherat and Kohat have more consistency, while Askary has the least consistency. Initial and Final setting time tests were performed for all brands, and Cherat cement was found to have the more initial and final setting time, while Kohat and Askary had the least setting time. In the case of the compressive strength test, Cherat cement was found to be the greater strength, while lucky had the least compressive strength. For seven days curing. For 28 days curing Cherat cement was the best one having greater strength, while Askary had the least strength among all. All the cement brands were tested the same way after three months of age, which shows that all five brands crossed the ranges for each test. Still, it has been observed that the decrease in the fineness is small for Cherat compared to all other brands while in case of compressive strength, the decrease in Cherat is greater than all other brands.