| Cement is being manufactured in many variants | | | | produce special variants of cement. Such high |
| today. This often confuses the layman who does | | | | grades of cement are also required in the |
| not know which cement to use. Besides Portland | | | | construction of long span bridges, high rise |
| cement, the market offers blended or OPC | | | | structures and other structures of gigantic |
| cement as well. | | | | magnitude. |
| You would find many variants within Portland | | | | Broadly speaking:o 33 Grade cement meets the |
| cement itself - 33, 43 and 53. Some | | | | requirement of small constructionso 43 Grade |
| manufacturers also produce cement varieties in | | | | cement is used for pre-cast concrete production |
| forms such as masonry cement, high strength | | | | and sleeper manufactureo 53 Grade cement is |
| cement and sulphated cement. | | | | used for heavy infrastructure and civil engineering |
| The important thing to remember is that there is | | | | applications. |
| no good or bad cement, the choice should depend | | | | One important point that must be remembered is |
| upon the intended application. It is interesting to | | | | that for most industrial and heavy applications, |
| note that while in the earlier times, only Portland | | | | cement is not used directly but is rather an |
| cement used to be available, the abundant supply | | | | important input for concrete. Blended varieties of |
| of fly ash resulted in the development of | | | | cement provide higher levels of strength and |
| Pozzolana cement. | | | | durability. |
| The demand from rail companies for high strength | | | | While 53 Grade OPC has its own specific |
| cement to be used for manufacturing sleepers | | | | applications, it is not advisable to be used for |
| put a pressure on cement manufacturers to | | | | ordinary structures. |