Use of waste ash from various by-product materials in increasing the durability of mortar

This paper presents a study on the strength and corrosion resistance of mortars made with binary blends of ordinaryPortland cement (OPC) and ground rice husk ash (RHA) or ground palm oil fuel ash (POA). The mortar mixtures were madewith Portland cement Type I containing 0-40% RHA and POA. RHA and POA with 1-3% by weight retained on a sieveNo.325 were used. The water to binder ratio was kept constant at 0.5 and the flow of mortar was maintained at 110±5% withthe aid of superplasticizer (SP). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for analysis. The compressive strength,chloride penetration and corrosion resistance of the mortar were determined. The results show that strength as well as theresistance of mortar to chloride and corrosion can be improved by blending with RHA and POA. Thus, RHA and POA havea high potential to be used as a good pozzolanic material