Experimental study to check the efficacy of adding organic additives on engineering properties of lime mortar

Abstract

Lime has been crucial part of early construction works, used for centuries. Old structures made with lime as mortar have shown exceptional performance in their lifetime, however some of them need repair and restoration. In India, historical structures have been built using animal and plant extracts to enhance the building properties of mortar. This study suggests the possible interaction of organics like jute, jaggery, and egg with lime, to simulate the mortar used in old structures. Jaggery has been added after its fermentation in 10%, 12.5%, and 15% percentages. Raw jute fibre has been used after chopping and incorporated in three different percentages i.e., 1%, 1.5%, and 2%, and percentages for egg are as 4%,6%,8%. Physical properties of these mortars are evaluated using tests like water absorption, carbonation etc., while for mechanical properties compressive strength and split tensile testing has been performed. In addition, wetting and drying cycles has been imposed to check the durability component of the mortars. Results reveal that mortar with jaggery as additive performs better in compression, jute-based mortar has the best tensile strength, and egg-based mortar has the least water affinity. At the same time, the wetting and drying test shows that lime-based mortar have good thermal stress resistance.