The Use of Basalt Rock Powder and Superfine Sand as Supplementary Cementitious Materials for Friendly Environmental Cement Mortar

The research gap about the application of basalt rock powder (BRP) and superfine sand (SS) as fillers in preparation of cement mortar is significant. This study characterizes the mechanical performance of the cement mortar formulated considering Portland cement, artificial sand and water as principal mixture components. To analyze the influence of BRP and SS on the strength properties of the mortar, the Portland cement and artificial sand have been replaced by BRP and SS respectively. The replacement percentages are 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% when the basalt rock powder replaces Portland cement and in case artificial sand is replaced by superfine sand, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. The percentages of basalt rock powder and superfine sand replace, in volume, the same quantity of Portland cement and artificial sand that forms portion of the mixture. The strength indexes such as flexural strength, compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity and dynamic elastic modulus were investigated. Overall results show that despite the reduction of mechanical properties of cement mortar, BRP and SS can be used as partial replacement of Portland cement and artificial sand in account of ratios from 10% to 25% basalt rock powder quantity by Portland cement weight and 10% to 20% superfine sand amount by volume of artificial sand.