Optical Microscopy

Optical microscope, has wide application in cement and construction industries, is equipped with state of art polarizing and stereoscopic microscope attached with image analyzer. Optical microscope is an important tool for quality evaluation of cement raw materials, fly ash, slag, clinker, coarse and fine aggregates and concrete samples. Thin and polished sections of rock, clinker and concrete are examined in transmitted and reflected light respectively. In-situ samples of concrete and rocks are evaluated in stereoscopic microscope. The salient features are as follows:

• Qualitative and quantitative assessment of raw materials.
• Morphological, mineralogical and granulometric analyses of sand fly ash, slag, tailings etc
• Mineralogical and micro-structural features of clinker mineral phases such as alite,belite, aluminate, alumino-ferrite phases and glass.
• Percentage of free lime in clinker.
• Quality variation in clinker induced by process and operational parameters.
• Percentage of glass content in fly ash and slag
• Percentage and morphology of palerosphere and cenosphere in fly ash.
• Detailed petrographic investigations of coarse and fine aggregates.
• Rock classification by petrographic methods.
• Petro fabric analysis of rocks
• Petrographic analysis of rocks pertaining to geo-technical investigations
• Evaluation of different types of aggregates for alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) and alkali-carbonate reactivity (ACR) studies
• Detailed microscopic investigations of fire damaged concrete, petrographic evaluation of hydrated concrete and microstructural analysis of hardened concrete of various ages and environment.
• Petrographic analysis and Langlier equation of silt samples.
• Identification and classification of heavy minerals in sand and silt samples.
• Quantitative estimation of mica in sand, silt and soil.
• Setting up of optical microscopic laboratories and impart training on operation and maintenance