What is BS EN 196-3 - Setting times and soundness of cement about?

BS EN 196 is a series of the European standard on methods of testing cement that is essential to ensure compliance with specification and application-specific requirements.

BS EN 196-3 is the third part of the series of documents that specifies the methods for determining standard consistence, setting times and soundness of cement.

The method applies to common cement and to other cement and materials, the standards for which call up this method.

The method is used for assessing whether the setting time and soundness of cement is in conformity with its specification.

BS EN 196-3 describes the reference methods and allows the use of alternative procedures and equipment, as indicated in notes, provided that they have been calibrated against the reference methods. In the event of a dispute, only the reference equipment and procedures are used.

Note: BS EN 196-3 may not apply to other cement types that have, for example, a very short initial setting time.

Who is BS EN 196-3 - Setting times and soundness of cement for?

BS EN 196-3 on testing cement is relevant to:

Infrastructure contractors
Civil engineers
Manufacturers and suppliers of cement and cement mortar
Quality control inspectors

Why should you use BS EN 196-3 - Setting times and soundness of cement?

Cement performs a vital role in the construction industry as it is a manufactured material created by a complex process that involves multiple ingredients that set, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together.

BS EN 196-3 gives details on the laboratory and equipment requirements for the testing procedure where preparation of specimens takes place in accordance with temperature and relative humidity.

BS EN 196-3 navigates you through the standard consistence test and shows up the typical manual Vicat apparatus for determination of standard consistence and setting time.

BS EN 196-3 provides the apparatus requirements to determine the soundness of cement by:

Typical Le Chatelier apparatus for determination of the soundness of cement
Typical Le Chatelier apparatus for determination of the soundness of cement – optional arrangement of loops for demoulding
Typical Le Chatelier apparatus for determination of the soundness of cement - resilience test arrangement.

Overall, BS EN 196-3 assist you in manufacturing cement by evaluating the setting and soundness assuring the stiffening of cement paste to a specific consistency, and the stability of the volume change during the setting and hardening processes, thereby preventing cracks in the structure.

In this way, you can use cement which is an extremely important construction material used in the production of many structures in the desire for improved living standards across the globe and ongoing development.

What’s changed since the last update?

BS EN 196-3:2016 supersedes BS EN 196-3:2005+A1:2008. BS EN 196-3:2016 includes some technical changes with respect to BS EN 196-3:2005+A1:2008. These include:

The normative references have been updated
Data of repeatability and reproducibility have been added as a note
The elapsed time in minutes has been approximated to the nearest 5 min
The standard has been editorially revised

BS EN 196-3:2016

Methods of testing cement - Determination of setting times and soundness

Current

Published:

31 Dec 2016