Rheological Behavior and Strength Characteristics of Cement Paste and Mortar with Fly Ash and GGBS Admixtures

V. Arularasi, P. Thamilselvi, Siva Avudaiappan, Erick I. Saavedra Flores, Mugahed Amran, Roman Fediuk, Nikolai Vatin and Maria Karelina
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V. Arularasi: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India
P. Thamilselvi: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India
Siva Avudaiappan: Departamento de Ingeniería en Obras Civiles, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Av. Ecuador 3659, Estación Central, Santiago 3659, Chile
Erick I. Saavedra Flores: Departamento de Ingeniería en Obras Civiles, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Av. Ecuador 3659, Estación Central, Santiago 3659, Chile
Mugahed Amran: Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Roman Fediuk: Polytechnic Institute, Far Eastern Federal University, 690922 Vladivostok, Russia
Nikolai Vatin: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251 St. Petersburg, Russia
Maria Karelina: Moscow Automobile and Road Construction University, 125319 Moscow, Russia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: A cement paste or mortar is composed of a mineral skeleton with micron to millimeter-sized grains, surrounded by water filaments. The cohesion or shear resistance in the cement paste and mortar is caused by capillary forces of action. In the case of mortar mixes, there is friction between the particles. Therefore, the mortar mixture shows both friction between particles and cohesion, while the paste shows only cohesion, and the friction between particles is negligible. The property of the cement paste is greatly influenced by the rheological characteristics like cohesion and internal angle friction. It is also interesting that when studying the rheology of fresh concrete, the rheological behavior of cement paste and mortar has direct applicability. In this paper, the rheological characteristics of cement paste and mortar with and without mineral admixtures, that is, fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), were studied. A cement mortar mix with a cement-to-sand ratio of 1:3 was investigated, including fly ash replacement from 10% to 40%, and GGBS from 10% to 70% of the weight of the cement. A suitable blend of fly ash, GGBS, and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was also selected to determine rheological parameters. For mortar mixtures, the flow table was conducted for workability studies. The flexural and split tensile strength tests were conducted on various mortar mixtures for different curing times. The results indicate that in the presence of a mineral mixture of fly ash and GGBS, the rheological behavior of paste and mortar is similar. Compared with OPC-GGBS-based mixtures, both cement with fly ash and ternary mixtures show less shear resistance or impact resistance. The rheological behavior of the mortar also matches the rheological behavior in the flow table test. Therefore, it is easy to use the vane shear test equipment to conduct cohesion studies to understand the properties of cement paste and mortar using mineral admixtures. The strength results show that the long-term strength of GGBS-based mixtures and ternary mixed mixtures is better than that of fly-ash-based mixtures. For all mixtures, the strength characteristics are greatest at a w/b ratio of 0.6.

Keywords: rheology; fly ash; GGBS; vane shear; cohesion; ternary blend (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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