CEE Oct-Dec 2002

__ ._)., • deliberations, it was felt that in our Standards, we should consi der specifying the condit ion ing requirements as appl icable to our country. llowever, as an alternative the condition ing given in European Standard!) cou ld also be indicated for the convenience of those who would like to test the cement under alternati ve conditions for executing an order of supply o f cement requ ired to be tested under such condition ing requirements, such as for an export o rde r. The Panel authori zed the 13 1S Secretariat to take suitable decisions with regard to circulation of fur ther drafts being prepared by them in consultation with NCB. 3. 1.2 S tandardization of TAMIN Sand as [ndian Standard Sand Equivalent to the CE N (E uropean ) Standard Sand The Panel discussed in deta il the feedback rece ived from TAMIN informing their ability to suppl y Standard Sand eq uivalent to European (CEN) Standard Sand conforming to EN 196-1 : 1994 as given in the Agenda. During the discussions. Sh ri R.C. Wason. NCI3 enqui red from Shri K.Suma nth 13abu, T 1\M IN regarding the shape. s ize and gradi ng of the sa nd avai lable at the sources identified by TAM IN vis-a- vis the requirements speci fied in EN 196- 1. In this regard, it was suggested that preli111inmy resting must he carried out hy TAMIN themselves and a report ' on coJ~formity e l·aluation ol TAM IN sand against EN I 1/6-1 might be submitted to BJS. Shri Subrato Chowdhury, L& r also mentioned that at least 3 to <1 sources across the country be explored by T 1\M IN to ensure easy and regu lar suppl y of such Standard Sand in the time to come. Regarding funds for Project on Study onsu itability ofTAMINSand as a substitute for EN Standard Sand for cement testing, the Panel noted that reply from CMA was still awaited. In the above context, Shri D. 13. N. Rao suggested to explore th e poss ibility of gett ing the proposed Projet:t funded by the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry through its Cess Fund. A POSITION PAPER ON ALIGNMENT OF INDIAN STANDARDS WITH EUROPEAN NORMS BIS has been attempting to align Indian Standa rd s ( IS) with European Norms (EN) for quite some time. Various sub committees of CMA a re by th emse lves not convi nced wit h th is kind of a lignment and hence no concrete proposal had emerged so far but attempts to align IS with EN are continuing. It is not practical to align Indian Standard s (I S) with any othe r standards as the present IS had evolved over the past half century with va ri ous modifications and amendments effected over several yea rs. Spec ificat ions with reference to European Norms (EN) and ASTM were appropriated to Indian conditions with respect to the c limate and weathe r, predominant charac teristi cs of limestone, type of fuel used, quality of various fuels that are avaifable, other raw materials like Gypsum, Iron ore, Baux ite , Laterite, Sandstone, c lay, etc . and al so, add itives like fly ash, slag, surkri, etc. Standard specifications which have been predominantly used in India hav e well es tab lished themselves so that the results are reprod ucib le or acceptable with certain minimum tolerances. The testing equipment which are being manufactured with in India are performing well with reference to the design as we ll as manufacturing or these instruments/equipment. 41 When we try to a lign Indian standards with EN all these factors will come into consideration and it is like formul at ion o f New Standards. Based on the above parameter levels or values, of the specificat ions have bee n so far commonl y used, are accepted by producers as well as by Major & Minor customers. A radi ca l change of specifications at thi s stage wi ll c reate mo re confusions amo ng consumers. Fixi ng of the values for these spec i fica ti ons wi II be arbitrary as B!S is trying to align IS with EN, value-wise, as well as method-of-testing-wise. For examp le tes ting of cemen t at 20°+/-2° C is not relevant to Indian tropical conditions though, so far we have been fo llowing 27°+/- 2° C But the va lues fo r the corresponding parameters existing as on date are unde rstood by the customers now. M/s T/\MJN has assured that th ey wou ld be ab le to s uppl y standa rd sand equivale nt to the standard sand of EN but the sample supplied by them does not seem to be conforming to the spec ifications of EN standard sand. Probab ly TAM IN has to study in depth about the shape factor of the sand. Other parameters rema in ing same, the results obtained by using Ottawa or Leighton Buzzard sand in place of TAMlN sa nd gives results which are very far different from that of values obtained by using TAM IN standard sand. The exercise taken up by BIS appears to be futile and it is more of academic interest. M ls. TAM IN has to develop the standard sa nd eq uivalent to the standard sand of EN and it should be tested with the standard cements of EN. Reproducib ility of the results should be tested I ensured for more than 2 dozen samples and then the cement that is produced in