Abstract
The porosity of cement mortars can be reduced by decreasing the water cement ratio with corresponding addition of superplasticizer to maintain workability. Further, the pore structure itself can be modified by the incorporation of pozzolanic admixtures such as Silica Fume, and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) powder. The reduced water cement ratio combined with refined pore structure increases the compressive strength in addition to enhancement in durability characteristics. Such cement mortars are termed as High Performance Mortars. The paper highlights the findings of a project which investigated the sorptivity characteristics of mortar mixes using (a) different percentages of GGBFS partially replacing OPC (b) reduced water cement ratios using superplasticizer admixture to improve the workability of mixes and (c) combination of superplasticizer admixtures and GGBFS. It is concluded that High Performance Mortars can be obtained by modifying a conventional high strength mortar mix by reducing the water/binder ratio and adding pozzalanic admixtures and superplasticizers.
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