Improving sustainability of mortar by wood-ash and Nano-SiO2

Abstract

Cement production charges the environment with CO2 pollution and exhausts natural stocks of limestone and clay. Cement was partially replaced with Wood Ash (WA), and nano-SiO2 (NS) was added to balance the strength loss. Mortar specimens were prepared by replacing the cement with WA) up to 20 %, 30 %, 40 %, and 50 %, using constant-flow mortar. The flexural and compressive strength results indicated that although adding 40 % of WA reduced the mortar's strength, it still remained in an acceptable zone (higher than 20 MPa). The addition of 2.5 % NS recovered the strength loss caused by replacing cement with 40 % WA.