Technical Questions

The earliest use of portland cement

Q. What was the earliest use of portland cement?

A. The first use of portland cement was in mortars. As confidence in portland cement grew, it was but a short step from its use exclusively in mortar for stone masonry to its use with stones broken into small fragments and mixed with mortar in concrete. Beginning with the general acceptance of reinforced concrete in the 19th century, portland cement rapidly became one of the principal manufactured products of commerce. In the second half of the 20th century, the use of portland cement continued to expand until now almost no construction large or small is carried out without portland cement concrete in some part of the work. In 1999, U.S. portland cement consumption reached 105 million metric tons.

References:  SP-1(02); ACI 225R-19; E3-13

Topics in Concrete: Cementitious Material; Concrete Fundamentals