Admixtures effect on fresh state properties of aerial lime based mortars

Abstract

Especially in rehabilitation works, the use of lime based mortars have been increasing due to the need of compatibility between the old and the new materials. The mortars fresh state properties are extremely important since determines the material workability and also have a great influence on its hardened state characteristics. In this work, the fresh state properties of aerial lime pastes and aerial lime based mortars were investigated. The torque variation with time and the mortar rheological parameters (relative yield stress and plastic viscosity) were obtained using a rheometer suitable for mortars. The correlation of rheological data with slump and relative density measurements was studied. The mortars workability is affected by several parameters, namely, the binder/aggregate and water/binder ratios, the kneading water content, the admixtures type and amount. The admixtures influence (type and amount) on the fresh state properties of aerial lime based mortars are discussed. The used admixtures were the most common ones for several mortars, such as a water-retaining agent, a plasticizer and an air-entraining agent.