STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF KAOLINITE BLENDED CEMENT MORTAR AND CONCRETE

An attempt has been made in the present work to study the suitability of locally available Kaolinite as mineral admixture in mortar and concrete. Natural Kaolinite as well as calcined kanolinite were blended with cement in various proportions (i.e.5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by weight of cement) to make mortar and concrete. The incorporation of natural Kaolinite and calcined Kaolinite in cement increased the normal consistency of binder. In the case of calcined blended cement, the setting times are significantly reduced. The physical properties such as water absorption and apparent porosity of mortar and concrete incorporated with calcined Kaolinite were significantly less than control mix, at the age of 28 days. The strength of mortar and concrete incorporated with natural Kaolinite blended cement is less than the control mix. However, the mortar and concrete incorporated with calcined Kaolinite (800 degrees C) have shown remarkably higher compressive strength than control mix. The increase in percentage of calcined Kaolinite has progressively improved strength of mortar and concrete. The mortar and concrete with 15% calcined Kaolinite has shown highest compressive strength.