ABSTRACT
The utilization of mineral admixtures as cement replacement materials is now widely adopted in USA, Europe and part of Asia for the production of mortars for masonry works like plastering, rendering and jointing of bricks, blocks and stones (Saad et al. 1982; Malhotra et al. 1995). Examples of such mineral admixture commonly used are natural resources like pozzolans and limestone filler, heat-activated additions such as clay and metakaolin and industrial byproducts like fly ash, blast-furnace and steel-making slag, silica fume, rice husk ash (Mehta & Monteriro, 1987; Kim et al. 2007). Many authors have found that the use of mineral admixtures in Portland cement for mortar formulation is very beneficial in areas like cost reduction, improved mechanical properties, reduction in heat evolution, decreased permeability, increased chemical resistance and reduction in gas emission that contribute to green-house effect (Carrasco et al. 2005; Tagnit-Hamou, 2003; Kadri et al. 2002).
