Behavioural comparison of mortar and concrete properties in the presence of a modified zeolite additive

The changes in mechanical and durability properties of mortar and concrete in the presence on a modified zeolite additive (MZA) were studied in this work. The aim was to investigate the possibility of replacing concrete laboratory testing with mortar laboratory testing for quick and sampling investigations. Samples of mortar and concrete prepared using 0.5 water/cementitious ratio with 0.6% and 1.0% MZA were subjected to series of mechanical and durability tests. The analyses of the results obtained showed increased in flexural/ split tensile strength for 0.6%MZA mortar samples and 0.6%MZA concrete cured for 180 days relative to control (without additive). Increase in compressive strength was observed for all the samples both for mortar and concrete cured for 28 days. Higher increase was however observed for concrete samples than mortar samples. An Increased permeability was observed for all MZA mortar and concrete samples relative to control with higher increase in concrete samples. The changes in properties observed in mortar and concrete samples were attributed to the presence of coarse aggregate in the concrete samples coupled with the new interfacial bond between cement paste and coarse aggregate, which in comparison was not present in mortar samples. These findings indicate that concrete testing cannot be replaced by mortar testing for major research work but the replacement could be recommended for quick properties indicative tests.