Ceramics-Silikáty 55, (3) 268 - 275 (2011)

This article investigates the sulphate resistance of cement mortars when subjected to different exposure conditions. Cement mortars were prepared using ground waste brick (GWB) as a pozzolanic partial replacement for cement at replacement levels of 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5, 10%, 12.5 and 15%. Mortar specimens were stored under three different conditions: continuous curing in lime-saturated tab water (TW), continuous exposure to 5% sodium sulphate solution (SS), and continuous exposure to 5% ammonium nitrate solution (AN), at a temperature of 20 ± 3°C, for 7, 28, 90, and 180 days. Prisms with dimensions of 25×25×285 mm, to determine the expansions of the mortar samples; and another set of prisms with dimensions of 40×40×160 mm, were prepared to calculate the compressive strength of the samples. It was determined that the GWB replacement ratios between 2.5% and 10% decreased the 180 days expansion values. The highest compressive strength values were found for the samples with 10% replacement ratio in the TW, SS, and AN conditions for 180 days. The microstructure of the mortars were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX).