6. Production of common cements

6.1 History

• From Antiquity...

  The Romans were undoubtedly the first to produce hydraulic binders capable of hardening under water. To do so, they mixed lime with volcanic ash from the Pozzuoli region. This is the origin of the well-known term "pozzolanic", which refers to a material capable of fixing lime in the presence of water.

• Modern times

  However, the hydraulic properties of the mixture thus formed remained totally unexplained until the work of Louis Vicat in 1817, when he developed the theory of hydraulic properties and published the results of his research.

  He gave precise instructions on the proportions of limestone and silica needed to...