Procedure

1. PREPARATION OF SPECIMEN

1. The dry material is prepared by mixing cement and sand in 1:3 ratio respectively by weight.
2. Water is to be added in certain percentage of weight of dry material to prepare cement mix. The percentage of water to be added is 10% for our test.
3. For moulding, the briquette mould must be placed on bottom plate
4. Then thin layer of oil must be applied to the mould before filling it by mortar mix.
5. The mortar mix is to be filled in briquette moulds.After that cover the mould with a plane glass or metal plate oiled with mineral oil, and turn over the mould and plates (held together with the hands) rotating the mould about its longitudinal axis.
6. Remove the top plate and repeat the operation of heaping, thumbing, and smoothing off.

2. STORAGE OF TEST SPECIMEN

After moulding, all the test specimens are to be immerse in lime water storage tank for the respective test ages except for those specimens which will be tested in 24 hours.

3. DETERMINATION OF TENSILE STRENGTH

1. Tensile strength test is conducted on specimens at following ages Test Age Permissible Tolerance 24h ±1/2 h 3 days ±1 h 7 days ±3 h 28 days ±12 h

Till that time specimens are remained in storage water tank. 2. Before testing the specimen, wipe each briquet to a surface-dry condition, and remove any loose sand grains or incrustations from the surfaces. 3. Place the specimen carefully aligning it along clips and start testing machine to apply load continuously at the rate of 3.5KN/min. 4. Record the total maximum load at which briquette failed.

OBSERVATION

1. The average of results will be taken as tensile strength of that batch except for that result which differs by more than 15% of the average value.
2. Area of cross-section of briquette = 1inch ²
3. Tensile strength = Fractured Load / Cross-Section area.