Mortar | types of mortar

 Mortar in construction

Mortar

Mortar is a paste composed of cement and water or lime, Suki, and water. Lime and cement are the mortar's binding agents. The mortars are strengthened by sand and suki. They also prevent excessive cracking caused by paste shrinkage. As the proportion and increases, the strength of mortars decreases. The best mixture is one cement to 36 sand. The amount of water required for better results is 20 to 25% because it provides the greatest strength to mortars. The mortars gradually absorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere and harden into a solid mass.

Mortar is used to hold the bricks or stones together in brick or stone masonry. It is used to provide a soft, even bed between different layers of brick or stone masonry in order to distribute pressure evenly across the bed. It is used to fill the gaps between bricks or stones in order to make walls tighter.

In technology, mortar is a material used in building construction to bond brick, stone, tile, or concrete blocks together.

Mortar is a material used in masonry construction to fill gaps between bricks and blocks.

Main types of Mortar

1.       Cement mortars

2.       Lime mortars

3.       Surki Mortars

4.       Ganged Mortars

5.       Mud mortars

 

1.     Cement mortars

Cement Mortars are a uniform mixture of cement, sand, and water. Different cement mortars are created by combining various proportions of cement and sand. Cement and sand are properly mixed in dry conditions to prepare cement mortars. Water is then gradually added and mixed with a hovel. Clay and other impurities should be removed from the water. The quality of mortars used as a binding medium determines the safety, strength, and durability of the resulting wall or structure.

·         Plaster is used to make walls and slabs impervious.

·         to repair wall cracks and joints

·         For pointing the masonry joints.

·         For laying out the building blocks.

2.     Lime mortar

Lime mortar is a type of mortar in which lime serves as the binding material and sand serves as the fine aggregate. Limes are classified into two types: fat lime and hydraulic lime. Fat lime requires 2 to 3 times the amount of sand in lime mortars and is used for dry work. Because lime mortars are plastic, they can be easily placed. Giza's pyramids were plastered with lime mortars.

3.     Surki mortar

Surkhi Mortars Lime is used as a binder, and surkhi is used as fine aggregate. Surkhi is finely powdered burnt clay that is stronger than sand and less expensive.

4.     Ganged mortar

Ganged mortar is less expensive than cement concrete. Both cement and lime are used as binding materials, while sand is used as fine aggregate. It is a lime mortar with cement added to increase strength. Gauging is the process of measuring. The cement-to-lime ratio ranges from 1:6 to 1:9.

5.     Mud mortar

A type of mortar is mud mortar. They use sawdust, rice husk, or cow dung as a binding material and sawdust, rice husk, or cow dung as fine aggregate. Mud mortars are useful in situations where lime or cement are unavailable.

Mortar uses

Because of their plasticity, workability, binding, and setting properties, different mortars are used for different purposes in civil engineering constructions.

·         Its purpose is to distribute a uniform load across the lower bricks.

·         Mortars are used in masonry work to create soft layers out of bricks and stones.

·         It was also used to connect the bricks and stones.

·         It also protects the water from the elements.

·         Mortars are used as a plaster or as an impervious covering for walls and roofs.

·         To protect the brick joints during various types of painting work.

·         It is used to conceal open brick and stonework joints.

·         Mortars are used to fill cracks in any structure.

·         It is used to enhance the overall appearance of the structure.

·         It is also used for ornamental works to enhance the overall appearance of a building or structure.

Mortar tests

·         Flow test

·         Compressive strength test

·         Air content test

·         Setting time test

Flow test

The mortar flow test makes use of a specially designed table that raises and lowers a known number of mortar times. The mortar will spread or flow from a circular mass during the test, and the diameter of the mass will be measured and compared to the initial size. The size increase expressed as a percentage of the initial size:

The required flow for most mortars is 110 percent. The flow test was repeated several times, each time with a new batch of mortars, until the desired flow was achieved. The amount of water required to achieve the flow record, and the mortar is then tested for compressive strength.

A truncated cone was filled with mortar samples and placed in the centre of the flow table for this test. The truncated cone was removed, leaving the mortar sample, which was dropped 25 times in a row. The standard specifies a flow rate ranging from 105 to 115 percent. The flow indicates the sample's usability.

Test of compressive strength of mortar

This is most likely the most relevant test for evaluating the performance of fly ash because concrete is valued primarily for its high compressive strength, and the pozzolanic within the concrete produced additional cement, resulting in higher strengths.

The mortar is placed and compacted into bronze cube-shaped moulds once the proper flow is achieved. Finish the surface of each cube with a trowel before placing the moulds in a moist curing cabinet.

The moulds stripe from the cube specimens after 24 hours of curing. The compressive strength is then tested at predetermined curing intervals, which are typically 1 or 3 days, 7 days, 28 days, and 56 days.

ASTM C109 / C109M – Standard Test Method for Compressive Strength of Hydraulic Cement Mortars is used to determine the compressive strength of mortar using 2 inch or 50mm cubes. Mortar is a mixture of cement, sand, and water.

Test for Air Content

Mortar is prepared in the same way that compressive strength is, with the exception that coarser sand is used and an AEA mix is used with mortars to centenarian air within the mix. The flow of the mortar determines after it has been mixed.

If the flow is within the specified range, a portion of the mortar is placed and compacted into a known volume brass cup, and the mass of the cup mortars is determined.

The air content of the mortars is calculated by subtracting the mass of the cup and knowing the density of each component. The test result report specifies the amount of AEA required to achieve a mortar air content of 18%.

Setting time test

The set time is the amount of time that elapses after mixing before the mortar begins to harden. This test is most commonly performed on cement paste, but it can also be performed on mortar. Over the course of several hours, the penetration of a steel needle into the paste or mortar was measured. The needle is part of a device known as a "Vicat apparatus."

When the needle penetrates the material less than 25mm for paste and 10mm for mortar, the material has reached its "initial set." The amount of time required to achieve this level of hardening is reported as a test result.