Cement chemist notation

Cement chemist notation (CCN) was developed to simplify the formulas which cement chemists use on a daily basis. It is a sort of "short hand" way of writing the chemical formula of oxides of calcium, silicon, and various metals. Below is a list of all of the abbreviations used:

CCN	Actual Formula
C	CaO
S	SiO₂
A	Al₂O₃
F	Fe₂O₃
T	TiO₂
M	MgO
K	K₂O
N	Na₂O
H	H₂O
$\bar \mathrm{C}$	CO₂
$\bar \mathrm{S}$	SO₃

Additional recommended knowledge

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These oxides are used to build more complex molecules such as:

C₃S	3 CaO • SiO₂	Tricalcium silicate
C₂S	2 CaO • SiO₂	Dicalcium silicate
C₃A	3 CaO • Al₂O₃	Tricalcium aluminate
C₄AF	4 CaO • Al₂O₃•Fe₂O₃	Tetracalcium alumino ferrite

Hydration products are more complicated, because many of the products have nearly the same formula and some are solid-solutions with overlapping formula. Some examples are below:

CSH	2(CaO) • SiO₂ • 0.9-1.25(H₂O) and/or CaO • SiO₂ • 1.1(H₂O) and/or 0.8-1.5(CaO) • SiO₂ • 1.0-2.5(H₂O) and more!
CAH	This is even more complex than CSH
AFt	C₃A $\bar \mathrm{S}$ ₃H_30-32
AFm	C₂A $\bar \mathrm{S}$ H₁₂