Corporate Body

CSIRO Cement and Ceramic Section (1958 - 1960)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

From
9 October 1958
Australia
To
10 April 1960
Functions
Industrial or scientific research
Alternative Names
  • CSIR/O Cement Investigations (Also known as, 1941 - c. 1958)

Summary

The CSIRO Cement and Ceramics Section can trace its origins within the CSIR/O Division of Industrial Chemistry to 1941 when it was known as Cement Investigations and sometimes referred to as the Cement Section. It became the CSIRO Cement and Refractories Section in 1960, and remained part of the CSIRO Chemical Research Laboratories.

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Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf pages 60:
"The study of cement began in the earliest days of the Laboratories, when manufacturers offered to support research into the problems of cement production and utilization, and a Cement Section was formed. At that time there had been some spectacular failures of overseas concrete structures attributed to a chemical reaction between the cement and the aggregates. The group was able to show how failures could be avoided by proper selection of aggregate. After the war, the Section entered the field of ceramics and demonstrated the suitability of Australian clays for whiteware manufacture. Shortly afterwards, one of Britain's largest tableware manufacturers set up a factory in Melbourne.

Since then, m·ost of the work on orthodox ceramic products has been transferred elsewhere, and the section's second interest is now in refractories and allied materials. The Section has accordingly been renamed the Cement and Refractories Section. "

From "CSIR Fifteenth Annual Report 1940-1941" page 71:
"(iv) Mineral Utilization. - . . . The first work has been on problems for which laboratory accommodation and equipment could be found; consequently it has been necessary to postpone research work in such desirable fields as cement, ceramics, refactories, and in the benefication of certain minerals at present imported until better facilities and increased staff are available."

From "CSIR Sixteenth Annual Report 1941-1942"
page 50: "Cement investigations have recently been commenced, the Cement Manufacturers' Association of Australia having undertaken to provide half the costs for a period of five years."
page 53: "6. Cement Investigations. In close collaboration with the Cement Manufactures' Association of Australia, which is to share the cost, investigations are being initiated into certain aspects of cement manufacture and concrete mixing. The field for possible work has been closely surveyed and a programme for investigational work submitted for consideration by the Association."

Chronology

9 October 1958 - 10 April 1960
Operational event - Officer-in-Charge, Arhtur John Gaskin

Timeline

 1958 - 1960 CSIRO Cement and Ceramic Section
       1960 - 1962 CSIRO Cement and Refractories Section
             1962? - 1970 CSIRO Division of Applied Mineralogy
                   1971 - 1984 CSIRO Division of Mineralogy
                         1977 - 1980 CSIRO Fuel Geoscience Unit
                         1984 - 1985 CSIRO Division of Mineralogy and Geochemistry
                               1980 - 1987 CSIRO Division of Fossil Fuels
                               1985 - 1987 CSIRO Division of Minerals and Geochemistry
                                     1988 - 1990 CSIRO Division of Coal Technology
                                     1988 - 1993 CSIRO Division of Exploration and Geoscience
                                           1990 - c. 1995 CSIRO Division of Coal and Energy Technology
                                           1993 - CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining
                                           1993 - CSIRO Division of Petroleum Resources
                                                 c. 1995 - CSIRO Energy Technology

Published resources

Books

Resources

Ailie Smith

Created: 13 July 2000, Last modified: 2 May 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/A000705b.htm

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