Characteristics of Pozzolanic cement Composites. Part 1: Physico-mechanical Properties

The influence of some pozzolanic waste materials such as: Granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), silica fume (SF) and Homra (H) on the physico-mechanical properties of Portland cement (OPC) pastes was investigated. The results show that the water of consistency of cement pastes increases with GBFS, SF and H contents and reaches the highest value with 20 mass% SF. The setting times (initial & final) were also elongated. The combined water contents, bulk density and compressive strength were slightly decreased whilst the total porosity increased so that they are all lower than those of the control at all curing ages of hydration. The cement composite with 10 mass% from each of GBFS, SF and H achieved the best results which are very close to those of the control. The DTA thermograms show that the endothermic peaks of free lime (CH) gradually decreased with curing time.