Performance of alusilica as mineral admixture in cementitious systems

This paper presents a preliminary study of the effect of alusilica (ALS) as a mineral admixture on the fresh properties and development of mechanical properties of cementitious systems. Cement was substituted with ALS with the ratio of 10% during grinding or blended during mixing. The produced ALS-substituted powder was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX).

Flow of the fresh mortar, air content and mechanical properties of the hardening mortar were measured. The results show that the inclusion of ALS in the mortar as a mineral admixture resulted in a higher air content and lower flowability in comparison with the reference mortar. Mortar with ALS substitution, exhibited a lower compressive strength as compared to the reference mortar.

This can be accounted for by the higher air content. By appropriately adjusting the flow of the fresh mortar, it is believed that ALS can be a useful cement substitution.