Author
WALKER, R.; PAVIA, S.
Trinity College Dublin, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

Abstract
Lime pozzolan mortars have been used by numerous ancient civilizations of builders, and are now regaining popularity as environmental sustainable alternatives to cements for masonry and concrete applications. This paper studies the relationship between the composition and physical characteristics of nine pozzolans and their corresponding reactivity, water demand, setting times and mechanical properties in lime/pozzolan pastes. The artificial pozzolans investigated were GGBS; Leca; PFA; Metastar; Microsilica; RHA; Red and Yellow Brick Dust and Tile. Each pozzolan was found to have a particular water demand for a given workabililty that was related to the particle surface area. It was concluded that the pozzolan surface area has a much greater influence on the water demand of the paste than its particle size or the lime:pozzolan ratio. It appears that the effect of the water content of the paste on the setting times surpasses the influence of the reactivity of the pozzolans. It was demonstrated that the particle size of the pozzolan critically affects the set of the paste and there is a critical particle size, ranging between 63 and 250um, for which the set slows down significantly. It was also noted that pozzolanic reaction takes place at variable speed for different pozzolans.

Key words
Pozzolans, lime-pozzolan paste, reactivity, water demand, setting times, compressive strength