Effect of amorphous silica ash used as a partial replacement for cement on the compressive and flexural strengths cement mortar.

Abstract

This research is aimed at investigating the effect of using amorphous silica ash (ASA) obtained from rice husk as a partial replacement of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) on the compressive and flexural strength of mortar. ASA was used in partial replacement of ordinary Portland cement in the following percentages 2.5 percent, 5 percent, 7.5 percent and 10 percent. These partial replacements were used to produce Cement-ASA mortar. ASA was found to contain all major chemical compounds found in cement with the exception of alumina, which are SiO2 (91.5%), CaO (2.84%), Fe2O3 (1.96%), and loss on ignition (LOI) was found to be 9.18%. It also contains other minor oxides found in cement. The test on hardened mortar were destructive in nature which include flexural strength test on prismatic beam (40mm x 40mm x 160mm) and compressive strength test on the cube size (40mm x 40mm, by using the auxiliary steel plates) at 2,7,14 and 28 days curing. The Cement-ASA mortar flexural and compressive strengths were found to be increasing with curing time and decreases with cement replacement by ASA. It was observed that 5 percent replacement of cement with ASA attained the highest strength for all the curing ages and all the percentage replacements attained the targeted compressive strength of 6N/mm2 for 28 days for the cement mortar