Physico: Chemistry of Cement Part (2)

Where part one establishes the solid state chemistry of the clinker phases, part two follows what happens when water is added. It covers the hydration reactions phase by phase, the heat they release and the stages of the hydration curve, the microstructure that develops as hydration products fill space, and the role of sulphate in keeping the aluminate reaction under control. Admixture interaction closes it, since that is where hydration chemistry meets the ready mix truck.

It runs 7 times over the published calendar, in 6 cities and live online. Every date is the same programme with the same content and the same certificate.

• Describe the hydration reaction of each clinker phase.
• Read a calorimetry curve and name the stages.
• Explain microstructure development and its link to strength.
• Account for sulphate's role in controlling early reaction.
• Predict how an admixture will interact with a given cement.

Laboratory chemists and quality staff, process and product development engineers, concrete technologists, and technical sales staff handling performance questions.

Short input, then work. Across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each, the balance sits deliberately with the second: a programme where the trainer talks for six hours produces notes rather than capability.

• Your own material

  Exercises run on situations delegates bring, not on a case study written for a different organisation in a different decade.

• A capped cohort

  Small enough that everybody is asked something. Executive programmes are capped tighter still.

• Practice under scrutiny

  The difficult conversation, the challenged assumption, the decision defended out loud. Judgement is not built by watching.

• Something to take back

  Each day ends with a thing you can use on Monday rather than a slide deck you will not reopen.

• A calorimetry interpretation from real data.
• A sulphate optimisation worked example.
• An admixture compatibility checklist.

A GATI certificate recording what you attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended.

Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record, which is what makes it worth holding. It records participation. This site will not imply one it does not have.