cement - cement - The major cements: composition and properties: Portland cement is made up of four main compounds: tricalcium silicate (3CaO SiO2), dicalcium silicate (2CaO SiO2), tricalcium aluminate (3CaO Al2O3), and a tetra-calcium aluminoferrite (4CaO Al2O3Fe2O3). In an abbreviated notation differing from the normal atomic symbols, these compounds are designated as C3S, C2S