Cement and clinker are not the same material. Cement is a binding material used in construction whereas clinker is primarily used to produce cement. The main differences between clinker and cement are given below.
| Clinker | Cement | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clinker is a nodular material which is used as the binder in cement products. | Cement is a binding agent that sets and hardens to adhere to building units such as stones, bricks, tiles etc. |
| 2 | Clinker is a granular substance containing spherical pellets of diameter 3-25 mm. | Cement is such a fine powdery substance that each pound of cement contains 150 billion grains. |
| 3 |
Clinker is produced inside the kiln during the cement manufacturing process. Raw mix is heated and then rapidly cooled to produce the marble-sized pellets of clinker. |
Cement is produced by grinding clinker (added with different active ingredients to achieve the desired properties of cement) into a fine powder. |
| 4 |
The composition of a typical good quality clinker for general use: 37-72% of 3CaO.SiO2; 6-47% 2CaO.SiO2; 2-20% 2CaO.Al2O3; 2-19% 4CaO. Al2O3.Fe2O3 |
Composition of the most common type of cement: 85% clinker, 1.5-3.5% gypsum by SO3 content, and up to 15% admixtures. |
| 5 | The primary use of clinker is to manufacture cement. | Cement is used in construction to make concrete as well as mortar and to secure the infrastructure by binding the building blocks. It is also used for water-proofing, filling or sealing gaps, and making decorative patterns. |