Strength Development of Cement-Slag Mortars

In this experimental work, three groups of cement-slag mortars namely OPC, OPC-slag, and slag mortars were made. All were cured in both water and air under room temperature. Strength development was studied up to 90 days. The mortars were prepared using 0%, 50%, and 100% replacement with slag. The sensitivity for all groups was obtained against the curing regime with the highest being attributed to the slag mortars. The highest and lowest strengths at early ages were attributed to OPC and slag mortars when both were cured in water. The highest and lowest strengths were attributed to OPC-slag and slag mortars at later ages, respectively. The highest strengths for OPC-slag, OPC, and slag mortars were as 72.0, 64.0, and 21.5 MPa at 90 days when the specimens cured in water, respectively. Strength loss was observed for all groups at later ages when cured in air under room temperature. The maximum and minimum, of about 8.0% and 1.3%, occurred at 56 and 90 days for slag and OPC-slag mortars, respectively.