Concrete, Cement & Aggregate Testing Laboratories
Concrete testing verifies that a mix or in-place concrete meets its specified strength and durability. Fresh-concrete tests (slump, air content, density) and hardened tests (cylinder and core strength) are routine; durability testing (chloride penetration, freeze-thaw, ASR, sulfate resistance, shrinkage) and petrography answer longer-term and forensic questions, and are increasingly used to evaluate supplementary cementitious materials, recycled aggregates and low-carbon binders.
What does it measure?
- Compressive strength of cylinders and drilled cores
- Flexural and splitting tensile strength
- Air content, slump, density and setting time
- Rapid chloride permeability and chloride content
- Freeze-thaw resistance and scaling
- Alkali-silica reactivity of aggregates
- Sulfate resistance, drying shrinkage
- Petrographic examination of hardened concrete and aggregates
When is it used?
- Mix design qualification
- Low-strength test results on a project
- Cracking, scaling or deterioration investigations
- Evaluating SCMs, pozzolans, recycled aggregates and alternative binders
Sample considerations
- Cores should be taken, labelled and conditioned per the method; record location and orientation.
- For petrography, send representative cores including sound and distressed concrete.
Laboratories with relevant capabilities
- Sandberg LLP (London, England) — Construction Materials Testing, Concrete Testing, Metallurgical Testing
- Struct Geotech Research Laboratories (Bengaluru, Karnataka) — Construction Materials Testing, Non-Destructive Testing, Concrete Testing
Frequently asked questions
- My cylinders tested low — what next?
- Common next steps are reviewing sampling, curing and testing records, then drilling cores from the structure for in-place strength. The engineer of record decides acceptance.