Cement Chemistry Harold F W Taylor: Complete Guide & Downloa

Cement Chemistry by Harold F. W. Taylor is the classic monograph of cement science. Published by Academic Press in 1990 and written by the Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London, this 491-page volume is the definitive single-author treatment of the chemistry of Portland cement clinker, its hydration and the products that form when cement meets water. For researchers, laboratory heads, process chemists and postgraduate students, Taylor’s Cement Chemistry is the book that explains what the textbooks of operations never explain: the exact constitution of alite, belite, the aluminate and ferrite phases, and the complex series of reactions that turn a powder into the strongest man-made stone.

This document, the complete digital copy included in the cementequipment.org library, is part of the Complete Cement Technical Package (931 files — books, courses, Excel tools and presentations, $249.99, instant download through PayPal). In this long-form guide you will find: the full chapter-by-chapter content map of the volume (based on the actual contents pages of the edition), an explanation of the major phases of Portland cement clinker, the hydration science that underpins setting and hardening, the role of the book for quality control and research, its place among the other books of the package, and the questions cement professionals ask about it most.

1. Why Taylor’s Cement Chemistry Is a Classic

Few authors have dominated a field of science as completely as Harold F. W. Taylor dominated cement chemistry. His career spanned the entire golden age of the discipline, from the era of X-ray powder diffraction discovery of the phases to the first electron-microscopic pictures of the C-S-H gel. The book distills that career into a coherent narrative:

• One author, one voice: unlike many edited volumes, this monograph was written by a single author, which gives it a consistency, a mathematical coherence and an authority that edited collections rarely achieve.
• Completeness: it covers every phase of the clinker and every major hydration product, with its crystal structure, composition, formation conditions and properties.
• Scientific rigor: every statement is supported by the experimental evidence of the period, and the reader is taught to judge the reliability of data — a skill rare in industrial manuals.
• Lasting relevance: because the fundamentals of clinker chemistry do not change, the book remains valid: the alite formed today in a modern precalciner kiln is the same mineral family that Taylor characterized in 1990.

For the professional library, Taylor is the “chemistry layer” beneath the operations: where the Cement Data Book gives the formulas and Lea’s Chemistry gives the broad engineering view, Taylor gives the exact science of the phases and their reactions.

2. The Complete Chapter Map of the Edition

The following content map is based directly on the contents pages of the 1990 Academic Press edition present in the file. The volume opens with the major constituent phases of Portland cement and then proceeds through raw materials, manufacture, hydration, the main hydration products, microstructure, and the chemistry of concrete:

Chapter	Covered material
1. Portland cement and its major constituent phases	General introduction, types of Portland cement, cement chemical nomenclature and abbreviations; alite: polymorphism, crystal structure, solid solutions, compositions in clinkers, polymorphic modifications, X-ray powder patterns, densities, optical, thermal and other data; belite: polymorphism, crystal structure, lamellar textures in clinker belites, polymorphic types and compositions; the aluminate phase: cubic, orthorhombic and monoclinic modifications; the ferrite phase; minor phases of the clinker.
2. High-temperature chemistry	Formation of the clinker phases, the liquid phase in the burning zone, equilibrium and kinetic aspects, the role of minor oxides and the effect of burning conditions on the clinker mineralogy.
3. The chemistry of Portland cement manufacture	Raw materials, the burning process, the composition of the raw mix, clinker production, the effect of cooling, and the relations between manufacturing conditions and phase composition.
4. Properties of Portland clinker and cement	Physical and mechanical properties, the relation of phase composition and fineness to strength development, setting behaviour, heat evolution and the reactions with admixtures.
5. Hydration of the phases	The reaction of alite, belite, aluminate and ferrite with water: the kinetics, the products, the heat evolution, and the mechanisms of hydration of each phase, including the famous treatment of the C-S-H formation.
6. Hydration of Portland cement	The complete reaction sequence of the whole cement: the role of gypsum, the setting and hardening, the microstructure development, the evolution of the pore structure and the temperature dependence.
7. The main hydration products	Detailed characterization of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H): its composition, morphology, density, structure and variability; calcium hydroxide (portlandite), the AFm and AFt phases (ettringite and monosulfate) with their crystal chemistry.
8. Microstructure of cement paste	The microstructure of the hardened paste, the capillary and gel porosity, the interfacial transition zone and the relations between microstructure and properties.
9. Chemical and physical properties of hardened paste	Strength, deformation, shrinkage, creep, permeability, the effect of temperature and the chemistry behind the mechanical behaviour.
10. Concrete chemistry	The behaviour of concrete as a composite: aggregates, admixtures, the cement–aggregate interface, deterioration mechanisms of chemical origin, and the chemistry of durability.

This structure moves logically from the mineralogy of the clinker (the basis of everything) to the manufacture, then to the hydration chemistry, then to the paste and finally to the concrete: the exact chain that a chemist needs to understand the whole material.

3. The Major Phases of Portland Cement Clinker

The first chapter is the backbone of the book, and its treatment of the phases deserves attention from every professional who works with clinker:

• Alite (tricalcium silicate, C3S): the main strength-giving phase. The book covers its polymorphism (the seven polymorphic forms), the crystal structure of the room-temperature form, its solid solutions with other oxides (which stabilize the different polymorphs), the compositions of real alites in clinkers (never pure C3S: they contain substitutions of Mg, Al, Fe, S), the X-ray powder patterns and the optical data used to identify it. For the microscopist, this is the identification key.
• Belite (dicalcium silicate, C2S): the phase of slow but continuous hydration, responsible for the later strength. The book explains its polymorphism (the alpha, alpha-prime, beta and gamma forms), the characteristic lamellar textures observed in clinker belites under the microscope, the polymorphic types found in real clinkers and their compositions. The famous “lamellar texture” that the quality microscopist sees is explained here in structural terms.
• The aluminate phase (C3A): the fast-reacting phase that must be controlled by sulfate. The chapter covers its cubic, orthorhombic and monoclinic modifications, their formation conditions (alkali substitution shifts the crystal system), and the consequences for the reaction with water and gypsum.
• The ferrite phase (C4AF family): the phase that absorbs iron and is therefore the most variable in composition; the book covers its crystal chemistry and its slow hydration.
• Minor phases: periclase (MgO), alkali sulfates (arcanite and aphthitalite), free lime, and the glassy phase — each with its consequences for soundness, storage and reactivity.

For the quality laboratory this chapter replaces the memorized tables: instead of remembering that “alite is about 60% of the clinker”, the chemist understands why alite forms, what stabilizes it, and how the microscope pictures of the phases translate into mineral compositions that can be verified with X-ray diffraction.

4. High-Temperature Chemistry and the Formation of the Clinker

Chapter 2 treats the formation of the phases in the kiln — the part that process engineers find most useful:

• The liquid phase in the burning zone: at temperatures around 1,400–1,450°C a molten phase appears whose quantity and composition depend on the silica ratio, alumina ratio and the minor oxides; the book explains how the liquid enables the diffusion that grows the alite crystals.
• Equilibrium versus kinetics: the clinker is not an equilibrium product: the cooling rate freezes high-temperature phases, and the book explains exactly what is preserved and what re-equilibrates during slow cooling.
• The role of minor oxides: MgO, alkalis, SO3, P2O5 and the transition metals act as fluxing agents and stabilizers; the book gives their effects on the melt temperature, on the phase stability and on the clinker quality — the basis of the “clinker microscopy” quality review that plants perform.

This chapter is the scientific foundation of every kiln control action: when the process engineer changes the raw mix composition to improve burnability, he is changing the melt properties that Taylor describes.

5. The Chemistry of Cement Manufacture

Chapter 3 connects the science to the plant: raw materials and their proportions, the burning process, the cooling, and the composition control of the raw mix. Key points treated in the volume:

• The selection and proportioning of limestone, clay and iron-bearing raw materials to hit the target oxide composition.
• The modern burning systems (preheater and precalciner kilns) and the chemistry of each step: drying, calcination, clinkering, cooling.
• The influence of cooling on the clinker: rapid cooling preserves alite and the glassy phase, slow cooling promotes belite crystallization and can lower cement quality — the book quantifies these effects.
• The relations between the manufacturing parameters (kiln temperature, retention, atmosphere) and the phase composition of the clinker.

For the process department this is the bridge chapter: it explains in chemistry the things that the operations manuals describe in temperatures and pressures.

6. The Hydration Science: From Powder to Stone

The hydration chapters (5 and 6) are the heart of the book and the reason it remains the standard text in cement research:

• Hydration of the individual phases: alite hydrates to C-S-H and portlandite with a characteristic heat evolution curve (the induction period, the acceleration period and the decay); belite hydrates slowly with less heat and less portlandite; the aluminate reacts almost instantly with water unless sulfate is present, forming ettringite or monosulfate depending on the sulfate availability; the ferrite hydrates slowly in a similar fashion.
• The hydration of the whole cement: the interaction of the phases, the role of gypsum in controlling the aluminate reaction and in optimizing the sulfate/cement ratio, the setting mechanism, the early and the long-term reactions (including the pozzolanic reaction when reactive silica is present).
• The C-S-H gel: the book gives its variable composition (C/S ratio in the range of 1.2 to 2.0), its fibrillar morphology under the electron microscope, its density and its structure — the phase that provides essentially all the strength of the paste.
• The kinetics: the mathematical description of the reactions (the Jander equation and related models are discussed for the solid-state steps), the activation energies, and the effect of temperature on the hydration rates.

For the researcher this is where the book shows its full power: the experimental evidence, the equations and the critical discussion of the mechanisms are all here, in a form that the reader can use to design experiments, interpret thermogravimetric curves and read X-ray diffractograms.

7. The Main Hydration Products in Detail

Chapter 7 is a full monograph within the monograph. For each major hydration product the reader finds its complete scientific portrait:

• C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrate): composition range, water content, morphology (the inner and outer product under SEM), density, specific surface (tens of m²/g), and the structural models (the tobermorite-like and jennite-like structures); the variability of the C/S ratio and its consequences.
• Portlandite (Ca(OH)2): the hexagonal crystals, the large well-formed crystals in air voids, the content of the paste (20–25% by mass in a typical OPC paste) and its role in the alkaline reserve of the concrete.
• Ettringite (AFt): the needle-shaped crystals, the hexagonal prismatic structure, the formation conditions, the expansive character and the role in sulfate attack and in the early stiffening.
• Monosulfate (AFm): the plate-like crystals, the conversion from ettringite when sulfate is depleted, and the consequences for the stability of the paste.
• The others: hydrogarnet, thaumasite formation conditions, the calcium carboaluminates when limestone is present — the modern interest in these phases is directly supported by the crystallographic data of this chapter.

When a laboratory receives an unexpected X-ray peak or a strange DTA event, this chapter is where the answer is found.

8. Microstructure of the Cement Paste

Chapter 8 explains how the hydration products organize themselves in space:

• The capillary porosity that remains from the original water-filled space, and its decisive role for permeability and durability.
• The gel porosity inside the C-S-H, which is intrinsic to the gel and cannot be removed by curing.
• The development of the microstructure with age: the filling of the capillary pores, the densification of the paste, and the percolation of the pore network — the concept that links w/c ratio to durability.
• The interfacial transition zone around the aggregate particles, the “weak boundary layer” that governs the quality of the concrete and the interest in pozzolanic additions that refine it.

This chapter provides the modern durability thinking with its scientific base: why a w/c ratio below 0.5 is necessary for durable concrete, why curing matters, and why SCMs improve the interfacial zone.

9. Concrete Chemistry and Durability

The final chapter of the volume applies the science to the composite material, concrete:

• The cement–aggregate reactions, including the alkali–aggregate reaction mechanisms and the conditions that trigger them.
• The chemical attack: sulfate, chloride, carbonation and the leaching of portlandite — with the reaction chemistry of each.
• The interactions of the cement paste with chemical admixtures and with the environment, closing the loop between the laboratory science and the service life of structures.

For the durability consultant, this chapter connects the mineralogy and the hydration science to the degradation mechanisms observed on site.

10. The Book in the Quality Laboratory and in Research

In professional practice the volume serves two distinct communities:

• Quality control: the phase-identification data (X-ray patterns, optical properties, densities) are used to calibrate clinker microscopy, to interpret X-ray diffraction results and to verify the mineral composition of clinker and cement. The laboratory head who understands Taylor can explain to the production department why a change of raw mix shifted the alite content by 5% and what that means for strength.
• Research and development: the hydration mechanisms, the kinetic equations and the product characterizations are the starting point of any new investigation: the development of new cement types, the evaluation of SCMs, the study of early-age cracking and the design of low-CO2 binders all begin with the chemistry this book provides.

10.1 The Sulfate Question: Optimizing SO3 for Quality and Storage

One of the most practical topics of the volume is the role of sulfate in the cement system — a subject that occupies plant quality departments every day. The book gives the complete scientific background:

• Why gypsum is added to the cement mill: without sulfate, the rapidly reacting aluminate phase would react with water in minutes, producing flash set and unusable concrete; the addition of calcium sulfate creates a controlled reaction regime in which ettringite forms progressively and the workability of the concrete is preserved.
• The optimum sulfate level: for each cement there is an SO3 content that maximizes early strength and minimizes shrinkage and false set; the book explains how this optimum depends on the C3A content of the clinker, the fineness of the cement and the temperature at the point of use — the scientific reason why the “optimum SO3” of a plant is a moving target.
• Excess sulfate problems: too much SO3 risks expansion and delayed reactions, while too little risks false set and rapid stiffening; the book gives the chemistry of both failure modes, which the quality engineer recognizes in the laboratory results.
• Interactions with other additions: limestone powder reacts with the aluminate to form carboaluminate phases, changing the sulfate balance; the modern interest in Portland-limestone cements is directly supported by the phase chemistry described in the book.

For the cement quality department, this part of the book is worth its price alone: it converts the empirical “try another SO3 setting” procedure into a scientifically reasoned optimization.

10.2 Clinker Microscopy: Reading the Clinker with the Book’s Eyes

The microscopy of clinker is the quality tool that plants use to judge the burning condition, and the first chapter of the book is the reference for it:

• Alite forms and size: well-formed, sharply edged alite crystals indicate normal burning; rounded, corroded alite indicates a kiln too hot or a wrong cooling; the book correlates the observed forms with the burning conditions.
• Belite textures: the lamellar textures and the speckled forms of belite indicate different cooling histories; the famous “rapidly cooled” and “slowly cooled” signatures are explained structurally.
• Free lime and periclase: the appearance of free lime clusters and periclase crystals under the microscope, their origins in the raw mix and the burning, and their links to soundness problems.
• The liquid phase relicts: the glassy interstitial phase and the recrystallized ferrite and aluminate, which record the cooling of the burning zone.

With this chapter, the laboratory can transform a routine clinker sample into a diagnosis of the kiln condition — the same diagnosis that the operations team needs to correct the burning before the strength results arrive.

10.3 The Science of the Low-Carbon Transition

The modern cement industry faces the decarbonization challenge, and the fundamentals of this book are directly on the critical path of the answer:

• Clinker substitution: every supplementary cementitious material — slag, fly ash, calcined clay, natural pozzolan — works through the hydration chemistry that Taylor describes: the pozzolanic reaction consumes portlandite and produces additional C-S-H, and the book explains the mechanisms and the limits.
• Low-clinker cements: the design of cements with 30–50% clinker requires knowing exactly which phases hydrate, at what rate and with what products — exactly the content of the hydration chapters.
• Carbonatable binders: the emerging CO2-cured systems are founded on the same phase science; understanding the C-S-H and the carbonate phases of the paste is the precondition of their engineering development.
• Alternative clinkers: the new generation of low-temperature clinkers (belite-rich, ye’elimite-bearing) requires exactly the high-temperature chemistry and phase data of the book’s early chapters.

The research teams that are building the cement of 2050 will do so with this book on their desk — the fundamentals do not expire.

11. How Taylor Complements the Other Books of the Package

• Operations: the Cement Data Book (Duda) and the Holderbank courses provide the process numbers and the operating practice; Taylor provides the science of why the phases form as they do.
• Engineering breadth: Lea’s Chemistry of Cement and Concrete (5th edition) provides the wide engineering view including the concrete technology; Taylor provides the rigorous single-author monograph of the chemistry itself.
• Tools: the Excel calculators of the package (raw mix design, heat balance, ball charge) use the oxide and phase relations that this book explains; the combination book + tool is the classic professional workflow.
• Quality: the clinker microscopy and quality training decks of the package illustrate exactly the phases and textures that chapter 1 of the book describes.

Within the Complete Cement Technical Package, Taylor’s Cement Chemistry occupies a precise position in the knowledge pyramid:

• Operations: the Cement Data Book (Duda) and the Holderbank courses provide the process numbers and the operating practice; Taylor provides the science of why the phases form as they do.
• Engineering breadth: Lea’s Chemistry of Cement and Concrete (5th edition) provides the wide engineering view including the concrete technology; Taylor provides the rigorous single-author monograph of the chemistry itself.
• Tools: the Excel calculators of the package (raw mix design, heat balance, ball charge) use the oxide and phase relations that this book explains; the combination book + tool is the classic professional workflow.
• Quality: the clinker microscopy and quality training decks of the package illustrate exactly the phases and textures that chapter 1 of the book describes.

This is the composition that makes the package unique: the chemistry monograph, the data book, the engineering encyclopedia and the tools, together under one license.

12. Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the complete book?

Yes — the file is the complete 1990 Academic Press edition of Cement Chemistry by H. F. W. Taylor (491 pages), including the contents pages, the preface and the full text with its tables and figures.

Is the 1990 edition still relevant today?

Absolutely. The fundamentals of clinker phase chemistry and hydration are timeless; modern research still cites Taylor’s book as the reference for the phase data and the reaction mechanisms. It is complemented, not replaced, by the newer Lea’s Chemistry (5th edition) also included in the package.

Do I need a deep chemistry background to use it?

A basic understanding of chemistry is sufficient to begin; the book is methodical and defines its terms. Laboratory chemists and postgraduate students are the ideal audience, and process engineers will find the manufacture and high-temperature chapters accessible.

What do I receive with the package?

The full library: 931 files including this book, Lea’s Chemistry, the Cement Data Book, the Holderbank courses, the Excel tools and the FLS presentations — for a single payment of $249.99 with instant download after PayPal payment.

Can I print a chapter for the laboratory?

Yes, printing for your own professional use is permitted under the single-user license of the library. Redistribution of the files is not permitted; the multi-seat option exists for plant-wide and corporate use.

What is the difference between this book and a cement standards manual?

A standards manual (like EN 196 or ASTM C150) defines test methods and limits; Taylor’s book explains the science behind the material being tested. The standards tell you what to measure; Taylor tells you why the measurement behaves the way it does — the combination is what makes a laboratory truly competent.

Does the book cover modern analytical instruments like XRD and Rietveld refinement?

The edition predates the routine use of full Rietveld analysis, but it covers the classical X-ray powder diffuse data of every phase in complete tables, and the modern user simply feeds these data into today’s software. The combination with the modern Lea’s Chemistry (5th edition) in the same package gives the practitioner both the classical data sets and the modern interpretation methods.

My job is process, not chemistry. Which chapters should I read?

Chapter 1 (the phases and their data), chapter 2 (high-temperature chemistry with the liquid phase), chapter 3 (manufacture) and chapter 6 (hydration of the cement) give the process engineer everything needed to understand the raw mix, the burning and the finished product — without losing the reader in the deepest crystallographic detail.

Is the package a single-payment or a subscription?

Single payment: $249.99 via PayPal buys the complete library — 931 files including this book, Lea’s Chemistry, the Duda data book, the Holderbank courses, the Excel tools and the presentations. The download access is delivered instantly to your e-mail.

Is the edition in the package the original printing?

The file reproduces the original 1990 Academic Press printing in full-page PDF fidelity, including the contents pages verified against the printed edition. It opens, reads and prints in any standard PDF application.

13. Conclusion: The Chemistry Monograph Every Cement Professional Should Own

Harold F. W. Taylor’s Cement Chemistry is the definitive scientific monograph of the discipline: the mineralogy of the clinker, the high-temperature chemistry of its formation, the manufacture, the hydration mechanisms and the products — all in one coherent volume written by the master of the field. It is the book that laboratory heads recommend to their young chemists, that researchers cite in their papers, and that process engineers open when they want to understand the “why” behind the numbers on their screens.

In the Complete Cement Technical Package it sits beside Lea’s Chemistry, the Cement Data Book and the operating courses, completing the professional library: science, data, operations and tools — 931 files, one payment of $249.99, instant delivery via PayPal. Give your career and your plant the chemical foundation of the strongest material of our age.

This file is part of the Complete Cement Technical Package (931 files — books, courses, Excel tools and presentations) available from cementequipment.org. Contents © respective rights holders; library copy for the licensed single user.