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The influence of ophiolitic crushed fine aggregate properties on the performance of cement mortars

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Abstract

Aggregates constitute the largest proportion of the raw materials used for the production of mortars. Therefore, their quality significantly influences the in-use performance of the aforementioned composite building materials. This paper investigates the influence of ophiolitic crushed fine aggregate, quarried in Cyprus, on the performance of cement mortars. The experimental results vividly show that the mineralogical composition and physicomechanical properties of the fine aggregate materials under study highly affect the properties of the hardened cement mortars. More specifically, cement mortars prepared with “poor quality” aggregates, exhibiting high methylene blue and Micro-Deval loss values, showed inferior physicomechanical properties, compared to composites prepared with “better quality” aggregates. Sound correlations were also found between the mineralogy of aggregates and the physicomechanical properties of the hardened composites. This suggests that the combination of standardized aggregate characterization tests and mineralogical analyses may prove useful in assessing the quality of aggregates, prior to their use in mortar production.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Cyprus Ministry of Interior for funding this research and the Geological Survey Department for providing the test samples.

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  1. Ledra and Building Materials Laboratories, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Street, P.O. Box 20537, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Revecca Fournari, Ioannis Ioannou & Ioannis Rigopoulos

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  1. Revecca Fournari
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  2. Ioannis Ioannou
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Fournari, R., Ioannou, I. & Rigopoulos, I. The influence of ophiolitic crushed fine aggregate properties on the performance of cement mortars. Bull Eng Geol Environ 80, 8903–8920 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02195-5

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