Role of water/cement ratio

on strength development of
cement mortar
S.B. Singh
, Pankaj Munjal, Nikesh
Thammishetti
Civil Engineering Department, BITS Pilani, 333031, India
Article history:
Received 28 March 2015
Received in revised form
3 September 2015
Accepted 3 September 2015
Available online 8 September 2015
Keywords:
Abrams’ law
Cement mortar
Compressive strength
Split tensile strength
Water/cement ratio (w/c)
The effect of water/cement (w/c) ratio on the
mechanical properties such as compressive strength
and
split tensile strength of cement mortar cylinders and
cubes was investigated experimentally for 28 days
curing period as per IS standard. Based upon the
experimental results, empirical equations have been
developed to predict the strength of cement mortar
mixes with various w/c ratios. It is observed that
Abrams’ law is applicable for the cement mortar also.
The cement mortar contains varying proportions of
portland pozzolana cement (PPC) and river sand such
as 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:7, 1:8 with different w/c
ratios. An empirical equation has been developed
between split tensile strength and compressive
strength of cement mortar. Results show that
compressive strength and split tensile strength of
cement
mortar decreased with an increase in the w/c ratio. It
is observed that minimum w/c ratio required to
make the cement mortar workable is 0.5.
1. Introduction
A well established fact in the cement industry
speaks that an
excessive water content leads to reduction in
strength of cement
mortar, but insufficient water content incurs a
poor workability.
Hence, a method for determining the optimum
water content and
influence of w/c ratio on cement mortar is
obviously desirable.
Quality control unit involves tight control of
w/c ratio for concrete
materials. But in the case of cement mortar,
more water is deemed
requisite by the mason to make the mixture
workable enough for
his comfort zone. Therefore, it is appropriate to
see the influence
of w/c ratio for mortar strength.
Haach et al. [1] investigated the influence of
aggregate grading
and w/c ratio on the workability and
compressive strength of
mortar. Authors [1] observed that increase in
w/c ratio has reduced
the value of mechanical properties and increased
the workability.
In another study by Schulze [2], the influence of
w/c ratio and
cement content on the properties of polymer-
modified mortar has
been of acute interest. Kim et al. [3] observed
that for increase in
w/c ratio of cement mortar from 0.45 to 0.60,
porosity went up to
150% and compressive strength has reduced to
75.6%. Zhou et al.
[4] observed that dynamic compressive strength
of cement mortar
increased with decrease in water content. The
dynamic compres-
sive strength of saturated specimen was 23%
lower than that of
totally dry specimen. Ji-Kai and Li-Mei [5]
observed that fracture
behavior of low w/c ratio mortar is more brittle
than that of mortar
with high w/c ratio. Zivica [6] studied the effect
of low w/c on the
pore structure and compressive strength of the
cement paste. Fi-
neness modulus of sand also influences the w/c
ratio of the mortar.
Lim et al. [7] have stated that finer sand grading
specimen requires
a higher w/c ratio to achieve an equivalent
workability. It has also
been observed by authors [7] that mortar with
coarse sand has
higher compressive strength than those of the
finer sand when the
w/c ratio is lower. Study has also shown that
influence of sand
grading affects the properties of mortar [8–11].
By experimental
investigations, Authors [8] observed 55–60%
reduction in tensile
bond strength as fineness modulus of sand
changes from 3.21 to
1.72. As the surface area of sand increases,
more paste is needed to
cover the surface to attain certain viscosity [10–
11].
In case of concrete, It has been shown that
compressive
strength varies inversely with the w/c ratio
through the Abram’s
generalization law. The Abram’s law developed
for strength of
concrete is given below [12].
K
K
Strength
1
1
2
w
c
where K
1
and K
2
are constants, w is mass of water and c is mass
of
cement. This formula is valid over the range of
w/c ratio of 0.3–
1.20. Abrams’ law is well known for relation of
strength and w/c
ratio of the concrete. Yeh [13] has confirmed
that application of
the Abrams’ law is valid to any duration
between 3 and 365 days of
concrete age. Rao [14] developed the empirical
model expressions
to predict the compressive strength and split
tensile strength of
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Journal of Building
Engineering
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2015.09.003