B

Batch
All the mixture prepared in the mixer truck.

Beam, girder
Reinforced concrete beam, usually horizontal, used as main structural element. It is used when the roof of a house cannot be supported on walls.

Bevel, chamfer
Cement fill applied between a vertical and a horizontal part, such as in roofs or in between two walls, in order to avoid the pass of water.

Blaine
Parameter that defines fineness of cement expressed in terms of cm2 (square centimeters) per each gram of that material. For example a 3000 cm2 blaine means that the addition of the surfaces of all the particles in a gram of that sample may cover an area.

Blast-furnace slag
Non-metallic product, essentially composed by silicates and alumina, developed in a condition of simultaneous casting with iron in a blast-furnace used for steel production.

Blast-furnace slag cement
Hydraulic cement, prepared with Portland cement and blast-furnace slag, designed for jobsites where high strength to chemical agresion is needed; it is also used in concrete constructions in general.

Bleeding
Phenomenon of natural segregation in which water tends to rise to the surface of freshly placed concrete before it hardens.

Bottom
Interior part of beams or bond beams.