Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198

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Construction and Building Materials

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Physical and chemical contributions of Rice Husk Ash on the properties

of mortar
M. Jamil a,⇑, M.N.N. Khan a, M.R. Karim b, A.B.M.A. Kaish a,c, M.F.M. Zain a
a
Sustainable Construction Materials and Building Systems (SUCOMBS) Research Group, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600
UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
b
Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology (DUET), Gazipur, Bangladesh
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur, Kajang-4300, Selangor, Malaysia

h i g h l i g h t s

 Physical and chemical contributions of RHA on properties of mortar are determined.

 Influence of RHA on mortar is mainly due to pozzolanic reaction of RHA.
 Pozzolanic reaction of RHA depends significantly on its particle size.
 Filler effect of RHA improves the durability properties of mortar.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Rice Husk Ash (RHA) contributes to the properties of concrete and mortar significantly by both physical/-
Received 22 March 2015 filler and chemical/pozzolanic effects. Most of the researchers have demonstrated the total effect of RHA
Received in revised form 17 September in concrete and mortar. However, the unique filler effect or pozzolanic effect of RHA in cementitious sys-
2016
tem is not studied comprehensively. The aim of this research is to determine the physical and chemical
Accepted 6 October 2016
Available online 22 October 2016
effects of RHA on the properties of mortar including mechanical properties (compressive strength, flex-
ural strength) durability properties (water absorption, porosity) and microstructure development. In this
regard, RHA and natural sand (NS) were ground to have median particle sizes (d50) of 6.72, 18.6 and 6.85,
Keywords:
Rice Husk Ash (RHA)
18.9 lm, respectively. Portland cement Type I was replaced by ground RHA and sand separately at the
Filler effect rate of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, up to 20% by weight of cementitious materials to cast the mortar. Compressive
Pozzolanic reaction strength, flexural strength, water absorption and porosity of RHA and NS mortars were determined at
Properties of mortars various curing ages. Maximum compressive strengths of mortar due to pozzolanic reaction of RHA are
Microstructure of mortars found to be 21.5 MPa (when d50 = 6.72 lm) and 10.1 MPa (when d50 = 18.6 lm) after 90 days of curing
and 20% cement replacement level. Results also show that for specific cement replacement level, com-
pressive strength due to filler effect of ground NS is almost constant and maximum 3.3 MPa at 20%
replacement of cement. Similarly, finer RHA (d50 = 6.72 lm) blended mortar shows improved flexural
strength (10.4 MPa), minimal water absorption (2%) and total porosity (1%) than coarser RHA
(d50 = 18.6 lm) blended mortar at 90 days curing age and 20% replacement level. These results are also
coherent with the microstructural studies of mortars. The results indicate that the influence of RHA on
the properties of mortar is mainly attributed from the pozzolanic reaction of RHA which depends signif-
icantly on its particle size.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Rice is considered as main food in many countries like China,
Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia etc. because of
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mjamil.ukm@gmail.com (M. Jamil), nahid.cuet07@gmail.com
(M.N.N. Khan), reza_civil128@yahoo.com (M.R. Karim), amrul.cuet@gmail.com,
amrul.kaish@ukm.edu.my (A.B.M.A. Kaish), fauzizain@gmail.com (M.F.M. Zain).
food habit of the population and weather condition. Along with
the rice production, a large amount of rice husk is also produced
in these countries every year. The most popular use of rice husk
is to use as boiler fuel in order to steam or generate electricity.
However, it can contribute about 20% of its weight to Rice Husk
Ash (RHA) after incineration [1–3]. Chindaprasirt and Rukzon
reported that the properly burnt and ground RHA is suitable for
use as a pozzolanic material [4]. Gastaldini et al. stated that burn-
ing and grinding process modifies the color, impurities and the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.10.029
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
186 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198
structural transformations of the ash [5]. On the other hand,
Venkatanarayanan and Rangaraju obtained significant results by
using both ground and unground low carbon content RHA [6].
Several previous studies reported that well burnt and ground
RHA can contribute to the properties of concrete and mortar signif-
icantly by both filler and pozzolanic actions [7–11]. Usually, in
most cases the total performance because of the filler and poz-
zolanic effect of RHA in cementitious system (concrete and mortar)
is reported in most of the previous studies. It is not clear whether
the advantageous use of RHA is because of the filler effect or the
pozzolanic reaction. Very few studies reported the individual
effects of pozzolanic materials in cementitious system. In order
to separate the pozzolanic effect of pozzolans from its filler effect,
some researchers have utilized non-reactive filler material as a fil-
ler representative to that of pozzolans.
Detwiler and Mehta reported that both physical and chemical
effects of silica fume are significant on the compressive strength
of concrete at the age of 28 days [12]. The carbon black in concrete
as a filler representative of silica fume [12]. However, Goldman and
Bentur described that micro-filler effect of non-reactive carbon
black is more pronounced than the pozzolanic reaction of silica
fume in concrete [13,14]. On the other hand, Cordeiro et al. sug-
gested that packing or filler effect of ground sugar cane bagasse
ash (SCBA) mortar and crushed quartz (CQ) mortar are similar
whereas the compressive strength of SCBA mortar is 31% higher
than the strength of CQ mortar because of the pozzolanic activity
of SCBA [15]. Isaia et al. concluded that the pozzolanic effect is
stronger in the binary and ternary mixtures prepared with Rice
Husk Ash in proportions of 25% or higher [16]. Cheerarot et al.
and Tangpagasit et al. found that the pozzolanic effect of fly ash
is higher than the filler effect of ground river sand on the compres-
sive strength of mortar [17,18]. Jaturapitakkul et al. also reported
similar effect of ground palm oil fuel ash in cement mortar [19].
Recently, Jamil et al. analyzed pozzolanic contribution of RHA in
cementitious system based on the hydration reaction of cement
and the pozzolanic reaction of RHA with the hydration product
[20].
However, to the best of authors’ knowledge, the individual filler
and chemical contribution of RHA in cement mortar is still not
investigated experimentally. Very few researchers have deter-
mined the physical and chemical contributions of other pozzolans
(fly ash, slag, silica fume, palm oil fuel ash, sugar cane bagasse ash,
etc) [12–19]. Therefore, the current study aims at quantifying the
physical or filler and chemical or pozzolanic effects of Rice Husk
Ash on the properties of mortar. Moreover, in the previous studies,
larger range of replacement percentages (like 10%, 20%, 30% etc.) of
RHA was used. Nevertheless, probabilities of the optimum strength
due to the filler and/or pozzolanic effect may lie in between two
larger ranges of replacement percentages. Therefore, an experi-
mental work is also carried out using RHA and natural ground sand
of different sizes at lower range of cement replacement percent-
ages (like 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% etc.) in mortar. In addition to this, a com-
prehensive micro-structural study is also presented by comparing
mortars containing RHA and NS.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Rice Husk Ash
Raw rice husk was collected from local paddy mill in the state of
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was burnt using a gas furnace available
at the National university of Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia. The incin-
eration process of raw rice husk was performed in accordance with
the process described by Zain et al. [21]. It is expected that more
than 90% amorphous silica can be produced by this process [21].
After proper incineration, the produced RHA was received.
2.1.2. Natural Sand
Locally available natural sand (NS) was selected as non-reactive
material. The non-reactive natural sand was used as a filler repre-
sentative of RHA.
2.1.3. Cement
Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) conforming to Type I of ASTM
C150 [22] was used as binding material.
2.1.4. Standard sand
Standard sand conforming to EN standard was used as fine
aggregate. Standard sand was used to minimize the effect of fine
aggregate on the strength of mortar.
2.2. Preparation of RHA and NS
Grinding of RHA and NS were performed using a Los Angeles
abrasion machine. In order to improve fineness of RHA, 16 steel
ball of 20 mm diameter were used as grinding rods with grinding
duration 60 and 90 min, respectively, to get two different size
RHA. The rotational speed of the machine was kept 30–33 rpm.
Similarly, dry NS was ground using same grinding rod specifica-
tions with prolonged grinding duration 180 and 240 min, respec-
tively. Then ground RHA and NS were classified in two different
particle sizes by dry sieving and denoted as follows:
 Small-size particles: About 5 ± 2% by weight of the materials
were retained on a 45-lm sieve. The materials were designated
as small-size rice husk ash (SRHA) and small-size natural sand
(SNS).
 Large-size particles: About 34 ± 2% by weight of the materials
were retained on a 45 lm sieve. The materials were named as
large-size rice husk ash (LRHA) and large-size natural sand
(LNS).
2.3. Determination of properties of RHA and NS
The particle size distribution of the materials was performed
using a laser diffraction particle analyzer. The chemical composi-
tion of the materials was determined using X-ray fluorescence
(XRF) technique. The crystalline or amorphous phase of materials
was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The
microstructure of the materials was observed using a scanning
electron microscope (SEM). All the obtained physical and chemical
properties are described in Section 3.1.
2.4. Preparation and testing of mortar specimens
The preliminary objective of this research is to separate the
physical and chemical effects of RHA in the strength of mortar. In
order to achieve this, compressive strength of RHA and NS mortar
was determined through experiment. In the experiment, a constant
ratio of cementitious materials (Portland cement plus Rice Husk
Ash or non-reactive material) to fine aggregate (standard sand)
was set at 1:2.75 by weight. The water to cementitious materials
ratio was maintained at 0.485. Normal municipal water supplied
in the lab was used to mix the mortar. Portland cement Type I
was replaced by RHA or NS at the rate of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% up to
20% by weight of cementitious materials. First, cement and fine
aggregate were mixed properly in dry condition. After that,
required amount of water was added to the mix to get moldable
mortar. All the specimens were cast in 50 mm standard cube molds
and removed from it after 24 h of casting. All the specimens are
 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198 187

then cured in water until the specified date of testing. Compressive

strengths of mortars were determined at the ages of 7, 14, 28, 60
and 90 days.
In addition to that, physical and chemical effects of RHA in the
flexural strength, water absorption capacity, porosity and
microstructure of mortar were also examined. However, for these
cases, only selected replacement ratios (10% and 20%) of RHA were
chosen. Flexural strength and water absorption capacity of
40 mm  40 mm  160 mm mortar specimens cured for 7, 14, 28
and 90 days was determined. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry
(MIP) was used to determine the porosity of mortar specimens at
14, 28 and 90 days. For microstructural studies, mortar specimens
obtained after 28 days of curing were examined using SEM/EDX
and XRD analysis.

2.5. Determination of chemical effect of RHA on compressive strength

The pozzolanic reaction, also known as chemical effect, of RHA

depends on the amount of calcium hydroxide released by the
hydration of calcium silicates. Therefore, the available amount of
calcium hydroxide depends on the Portland cement content in
the mixture.
In this study, RHA and NS mortars were used to determine the
contribution from the pozzolanic reaction to the compressive
strength of mortar. Both of the mortars contain cement replace-
ment materials that had approximately same particle size, same
replacement ratio of cement, and the same mortar age. Strength
of RHA mortar compared to control mortar is because of both poz-
zolanic reaction and filler effect of RHA. On the other hand, no poz-
zolanic reaction is expected in NS mortar because of the inert
nature of NS; and thus only the filler effect is expected in NS mor-
tar. Therefore, the contribution due to the pozzolanic reaction can
be determined from the difference in compressive strengths
between the RHA mortar and NS mortar. This procedure is also
Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of materials (a) SRHA and SNS and (b) LRHA and
used by the previous researchers [12–19]. LNS.

2.6. Determination of physical effect of RHA on compressive strength

The physical or filler effect of pozzolans on the compressive
strength of mortar depends on its’ particle size. Smaller size poz-
zolans provides comparatively higher compressive strength than
the larger size pozzolans. This is because of smaller particles fills
up more inter-particular spaces than that of larger particles. There-
fore, the differences in compressive strength between mortars con-
taining different particle sizes of pozzolans can be quantified as the
filler effect of pozzolans to the compressive strength of mortar. In
this study, non-reactive natural sand (NS) is utilized as the filler
representative of pozzolan (RHA). Therefore, at the same replace-
ment rate and mortar age, the difference between the compressive
strengths of smaller NS (SNS) mortar and larger NS (LNS) mortar
will provide the filler effect of RHA in the cement mortar. Same
method was also utilized by the previous researchers [15,18–19].
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Characteristics of materials
3.1.1. Particle size of materials
The particle size distribution curve for each pair of materials
(SRHA and SNS; LRHA and LNS) is provided in Fig. 1(a and b). As
seen from these figures, each pair of the materials has slightly dif-
ferent in particle size distribution. The figures also indicate that
large-sized particles (LRHA and LNS) are coarsely graded while
compared to small-sized particles (SRHA and SNS). Moreover, each
pair of materials very close in particle size distribution while
small-size pair (SRHA and SNS) having finer particles than large-
size pair (LRHA and LNS). Table 1 shows the physical properties
of OPC, SRHA, LRHA, SFNS and LFNS including specific gravity,
Blaine fineness, average particle size (d50), percentage retained
on 45 lm sieve and specific surface area, respectively. Average par-
ticle size of OPC, SRHA, SNS, LRHA and LNS are 11.96, 6.7, 6.8, 18.6
and 18.9 lm. The average particle size of RHA decreases signifi-
cantly with increase in the grinding time [21]. Average particle size
of SRHA is lower than that of OPC which is essential for active par-
ticipation in the pozzolanic reaction [23]. The results conformed to
the previous research results on particle size distribution between
small-size and large-size particles [17–19].
3.1.2. Chemical properties of materials
Table 2 presents the chemical composition of the materials.
From Table 2 it is observed that RHA (SRHA and LRHA) contains
greater amount of silica 89.9% and 90.21% respectively. According
to ASTM C618, a pozzolan is classified as F pozzolans if the total
amount of SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3 is more than 70% [24]. In this case,
total percentage of these oxides (SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3) in RHA
(SRHA and LRHA) is more than 70%; therefore, can be considered
as F pozzolans [24]. In addition, the amount of sulfur trioxide
(SO3) content in RHA (SRHA and LRHA) is also less than 4%, which
is the maximum allowable limit according to ASTM C618 [24]. It is
also seen that RHA (SRHA and LRHA) contains K2O (not more than
3%),is mainly due to the use of fertilizers on rice crops [25]. Conse-
quently, both SRHA and LRHA can be categorized as class F poz-
zolan. These arguments regarding to the chemical properties of
188 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198

Table 1
Physical properties of materials.

Type of sample Specific gravity Blaine fineness (m2/g) Retained on 45-lm sieve (%) Average particle size d50 (lm) Specific surface area (m2/cm3)
OPC 3.13 0.362 13.30 11.96 0.725
SRHA 2.27 0.765 4.12 6.72 1.668
LRHA 2.06 0.610 31.5 18.6 1.191
SNS 2.62 0.888 5.5 6.85 –
LNS 2.60 0.508 30.9 18.9 –

Table 2
Chemical compositions of materials.

Materials Chemical properties, Oxide compositions (wt%)

SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 K2O CaO TiO2 SO3 Na2O MgO LOI
OPC 19.03 4.21 3.16 0.34 66.06 0.14 2.74 – 2.54 2.11
SRHA 89.91 0.13 0.95 2.75 0.76 – 0.83 0.01 0.30 2.99
LRHA 90.21 0.15 0.91 2.61 0.72 – 0.96 0.01 0.10 2.80
SNS 92.91 3.80 1.01 0.92 0.34 0.24 – 0.10 0.10 0.76
LNS 93.42 2.41 1.51 0.9 0.41 0.20 – 0.10 0.10 0.68

Fig. 2. SEM observations of materials (a) OPC (b) SRHA (c) LRHA (d) SNS (e) LNS.

RHA are in line with the previously reported results [10–11,21,26– and SO3 are less than 1%. Natural sand was treated as a non-
28]. It is noticed that SiO2 (quartz) is the major constituent in NS reactive material due to the presence of more than 92% of insoluble
(SNS and LNS) with a concentration more than 92% and amount or non-reactive material, which is mainly quartz as shown in Fig. 3
of Al2O3 is lower than 4%. Other constituents, such as CaO, MgO, (b). In this connection, natural sand (NS) can be introduced as
 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198
non-reactive material in present study due to presence of insoluble
material (quartz) more than 92%. The advantage of introducing
non-reactive material is, it will only fill up the internal voids of
mortar and will not take part in any kinds of chemical reactions.
Therefore, it will only provide the filler effect (not the chemical
or pozzolanic effect) in concrete or mortar.
3.1.3. Microstructure and morphology of materials
The microstructure of the materials as observed through a scan-
ning electron microscope is shown in Fig. 2(a–e). As these figures
show, the OPC Particles are mainly box and stone shaped. The
microstructure of the SRHA and LRHA are very porous and spongy
due to higher specific surface area. The LRHA particles are dis-
tributed over a wide size range with varying particle shapes while
the SRHA particle size range is narrowly distributed with cellular,
angular and spongyparticles. In addition, the LRHA particles are
irregular, vesicular and layered in appearance having porous
microstructure. The SRHA particles are comparatively finer with
some smaller particles clumped together. It is anticipated that
the higher amounts of small RHA particles will ensure an active
participation in the pozzolanic reaction [6]. The SEM observation
of SRHA and LRHA strongly supports the past studies [6,10–11].
On the other hand, NS (SNS and LNS) particles are irregular shaped
as shown in Fig. 2(d and e), which is easily distinguishable from
RHA (SRHA and LRHA) particles due to conchoidal structure. It
can be concluded that each pair of materials (SRHA and SNS; LRHA
and LNS) are close enough based on particles size only while
microstructure is quite different.
The XRD patterns of the materials are shown in Fig. 3(a and b). A
qualitative assessment of the crystallinity of the samples can be
obtained from the intensity of the narrow reflections as compared
to the broad band around 22° (2h). Consequently, the intense
broad/wider peak as observed in Fig. 3(a) indicates the amorphous
nature of silica (SiO2) in RHA samples (SRHA and LRHA). However,
some reasonably sharp and intense reflections start to show up on
top of the broad amorphous background of LRHA sample. The XRD
diffractions of NS (SNS and LNS) as presented in Fig. 3(b) confirm
the crystalline phase of silica (quartz) because of narrow/sharp
reflections. Previous researchers, who utilized natural sand as filler
material, also observed quartz as the main element of natural sand
[21,27,29–30].
3.2. Compressive strength of mortar
Compressive strength of mortar containing SRHA and LRHA is
presented in Table 3. At the age of 7 days, compressive strength
Fig. 3. XRD of materials (a) SRHA and LRHA and (b) SNS and LNS.
189
of SRHA and LRHA mortars are lower than control mortar. How-
ever, after 14 days of curing difference in compressive strength
between SRHA mortars and control mortar is very small. On the
other hand, LRHA mortars show lower compressive strength than
control mortar both 7 and 14 days of curing. Thus, it is can be said
that early strength development of SRHA mortars is better than
LRHA mortars. After 28 days of curing, the compressive strength
of SRHA mortar increases than control mortar up to 20% cement
replacement level. This increment of strength continues up to
90 days of curing for SRHA mortar. It is noted that the strengths
of LRHA mortar still lower than control mortar even after 28 days
of curing or more at all cement replacement level. It is well known
when finer RHA is incorporated in concrete and mortar, it increases
compressive strength by both pozzolanic and filler action. Conse-
quently, when small-sized or finer SRHA is used in mortar it
increases compressive strength significantly due to pozzolanic
and filler activity. Because, mean particle size of SRHA
(d50 = 6.72 lm) is lower than cement particles (d50 = 11.96 lm).
However, LRHA (d50 = 18.6 lm) did not produce higher strength
than control mortar at any level of curing and replacement of
cement. Though the burning conditions for both SRHA and LRHA
are same but particle sizes are different. This result suggests that
the small-sized or finer ground RHA (SRHA) could cause a greater
pozzolanic reaction and also fill the mortar voids effectively. As a
result, produces higher compressive strength than that obtained
using large-sized or coarser ground RHA (LRHA). Chindaprasirt
and Rukzon also reported that finer RHA (d50 = 10 lm) can react
more quickly with released CH and increase the compressive
strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction [27]. They also
mentioned that an appropriate arrangement of the finer RHA par-
ticles which contributes to the compressive strength through the
filler effect.
From Table 3, it is also noticed that the compressive strength of
LRHA mortars decreases with the increment of cement replace-
ment level by LRHA. This may due to the presence of coarser or
large-sized LRHA which produces porous surface and more voids
inside the mixtures. However, SRHA improves the mortar strength
significantly than control mortar by both filler and pozzolanic
action. It has been reported in many past studies that control incin-
erated RHA shows higher reactivity after grinding with a median
particle size of less than 10 lm [6,23]. Bakar et al. prepared con-
crete specimens using RHA of median particle size ranges from
6.65 lm to 17.97 lm [31]. They found lower compressive strength
for concrete containing RHA of median particle size 17.97 lm
while compared to control concrete and also concrete containing
RHA of median particle sizes less than that size. Safiuddin et al.
190 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198

Table 3
Compressive strength of ground rice husk ash mortar.

Specimen Compressive strength (MPa)

7 days 14 days 28 days 60 days 90 days
Control mortar 36.4 49.1 58.2 60.2 62.2
SRHA-2.5 35.4 49.1 59.0 60.9 62.3
SRHA-5.0 34.3 49.2 59.2 60.9 62.5
SRHA-7.5 34.0 49.3 60.0 60.8 63.0
SRHA-10.0 33.6 49.5 60.2 61.2 63.2
SRHA-12.5 33.6 49.7 60.3 61.6 63.6
SRHA-15.0 33.5 49.9 60.7 61.8 63.8
SRHA-17.5 32.9 50.1 61.8 62.0 64.2
SRHA-20.0 32.8 50.2 62.3 63.3 64.4
LRHA-2.5 34.1 48.6 57.9 59.9 61.9
LRHA-5.0 33.2 46.7 56.0 57.9 61.3
LRHA-7.5 32.4 45.1 55.1 56.7 57.6
LRHA-10.0 31.9 43.2 53.1 53.9 54.7
LRHA-12.5 31.7 42.5 51.1 51.9 52.9
LRHA-15.0 31.6 40.5 49.1 49.3 50.0
LRHA-17.5 31.3 38.1 47.1 49.0 49.8
LRHA-20.0 31.2 35.9 46.5 47.9 49.7

reported that RHA is to be used as an excellent supplementary
cementing material while the fineness of RHA must be greater than
that of cement [32]. They also mentioned that the properties of
self-consolidating concrete significantly influenced by the RHA of
median particle size 6 lm. Xu et al. found significant compressive
strength for RHA concrete whereas RHA particles were 150 nm
(0.15 lm) [26].
Compressive strength NS (SNS and LNS) mixed mortar is shown
in Table 4. The results show that the compressive strength of mor-
tar decreases as the content of NS (SNS and LNS) increases. This is
the expected result since the ground NS is a non-reactive material
and cannot contribute any compressive strength to the mortar by
chemical reaction. Consequently, with higher replacement of
cement using NS (SNS and LNS) shows the lower compressive
strength of mortar. This is due to that the cement content of the
mortar decreases as the amount of ground NS (SNS and LNS)
increases and results in a reduction of calcium silicate hydrate
(C-S-H) from the hydration reaction. Similar result was reported
by Cheerarot et al. [17] while they used ground river sand as
non-reactive filler material. At the similar age and replacement
of cement, the mortar mixed with the smaller particle size of
ground natural sand (SNS) shows higher compressive strength
than mortar mixed with the larger particle size of ground natural
sand (LNS). For example, compressive strength of SNS-10.0 mortar
is 31.0 MPa at 7 days of curing while compressive strength of LNS-
10.0 mortar is 30.0 MPa. This result suggests that the smaller par-
ticle size of ground natural sand (SNS) has a greater filler effect on
increasing the compressive strength of mortar. This results con-
form to the past studies [17–19].
3.2.1. Compressive strength of mortar due to pozzolanic reaction
Compressive strength of RHA (SRHA and LRHA) mortars is influ-
enced by the hydration of cement, filler and pozzolanic actions of
RHA. On the other hand, compressive strength of NS (SNS and
LNS) mortars is influenced by cement hydration and filler effect
of NS. Therefore, compressive strength of mortar due to pozzolanic
reaction of RHA (SRHA and LRHA) can be calculated from the dif-
ference in compressive strength between ground RHA (SRHA and
LRHA) mortars (Table 3) and NS (SNS and LNS) mortars (Table 4)
at the similar particle size, cement replacement level and age.
For example, compressive strength of SRHA-2.5 mortar is
35.4 MPa and compressive strength of SNS-2.5 mortar is
34.3 MPa after 7 days of curing. Therefore, compressive strength
due to the pozzolanic reaction of SRHA after 7 days of curing can
be calculated from the difference in compressive strength between
SRHA-2.5 mortar and SNS-2.5mortar. The calculated value is
1.1 MPa, which is induced by the pozzolanic reaction of SRHA. Sim-
ilarly, difference in compressive strength between LRHA-2.5 and

Table 4
Compressive strength of ground natural sand mortar.

Specimen Compressive strength (MPa)

7 days 14 days 28 days 60 days 90 days
Control mortar 36.4 49.1 58.2 60.2 62.2
SNS-2.5 34.3 48.4 57.9 59.9 61.7
SNS-5.0 33.4 46.4 55.7 57.2 60.9
SNS-7.5 32.9 45.2 55.3 56.9 57.1
SNS-10.0 31.0 42.8 52.5 53.3 54.1
SNS-12.5 30.6 41.1 50.2 51.0 52.1
SNS-15.0 30.5 37.6 46.6 48.1 48.9
SNS-17.5 29.1 36.2 43.9 45.9 46.2
SNS-20.0 28.8 33.8 41.0 42.0 42.9
LNS-2.5 34.0 48.0 57.1 59.1 61.0
LNS-5.0 33.0 45.9 55.1 56.7 60.1
LNS-7.5 31.9 44.1 54.0 55.5 55.7
LNS-10.0 30.0 41.7 51.2 52.0 52.2
LNS-12.5 29.3 39.8 48.2 48.9 49.8
LNS-15.0 29.1 35.9 44.9 46.0 46.4
LNS-17.5 27.0 33.7 41.0 42.9 43.1
LNS-20.0 26.9 31.1 38.0 38.9 39.6
 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198
Fig. 4. Compressive strength of mortar due to pozzolanic reaction of (a) SRHA and (b) LRHA.
LNS-2.5 mortar after 7 days curing represents compressive
strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction of LRHA at that
age and cement replacement level.
Fig. 4(a and b) shows compressive strength of mortar due to the
pozzolanic reaction of SRHA and LRHA at all cement replacement
level and ages. From these figures, it is observed that compressive
strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction of SRHA is much
higher than compressive strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic
reaction of LRHA after 28–90 days of curing. It should be noted that
the compressive strength of mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction
of either SRHA or LRHA is only significant after 28 days of curing.
This result suggested that the pozzolanic action of RHA (SRHA
and LRHA) starts at a later age and becomes significant when a
considerable amount of Ca(OH)2 is produced as hydration product
of cement. RHA reacts with cement hydration product Ca(OH)2 to
produce secondary C-S-H gel [20]. The figures also reveal that com-
pressive strength due to the pozzolanic reaction of SRHA or LRHA
increases with age and percentages replacement of cement by
RHA. This is because of the increased availability of Ca(OH)2 with
the age, and increased availability of RHA with increased replace-
ment of cement by RHA. The maximum compressive strength of
mortar due to pozzolanic reaction of SRHA is 21.5 MPa after
90 days of curing and 20% cement replacement level. However,
the maximum compressive strength of mortar due to pozzolanic
reaction of LRHA is 10.1 MPa at that age and cement replacement
level. This might be because of the inability of coarser or large-
size LRHA to produce significant pozzolanic reaction at the later
ages. Consequently, the pozzolanic reaction of LRHA mortars is
masked and it is almost half of the pozzolanic reaction of SRHA
mortars.
In general, the use of RHA to replace Portland cement may
decrease or increase the compressive strength of mortar depending
on the particle size of RHA. If the compressive strength of mortar
contributed by the pozzolanic reaction of RHA is lower than that
of cement mortar, the total compressive strength of mortar will
be lower than the one where the cement replacement level is less.
In this case, RHA mortar which has higher compressive strength
contributed by pozzolanic reaction does not mean to have higher
total compressive strength than the one with lower pozzolanic
reaction. For example, the total compressive strength of LRHA-
10.0 mortar (10% cement replacement) and LRHA-20.0 mortar
(20% cement replacement) are 43.2 and 35.9 MPa after 14 days of
191
curing (Table 3). However, their compressive strengths due to the
pozzolanic reaction are 1.5 and 4.8 MPa respectively at that age
and cement replacement level. This result strongly supports the
study carried out by Cheerarot et al. [17] while they used class F
fly ash with different sizes. On the other hand, Jaturapitakkul
et al. [19] reported very lower or ignorable pozzolanic reaction
forlarge-sized class C palm oil fuel ash.
Therefore, results suggest that the compressive strength due to
the pozzolanic reaction of RHA depends on particle fineness,
cement replacement rate and age of the mortar. These observations
are closely similar to other pozzolans, such as fly ash, palm oil fuel
ash, silica fume and sugar cane bagasse ash that have been used to
replace Portland cement in concrete and mortar [14–19].
3.2.2. Compressive strength of mortar due to filler effect
Fig. 5 shows the compressive strength of mortar due to the filler
effect from NS. Fig. 5 is obtained from the difference in compres-
sive strength (Table 4) between the SNS mortars and LNS mortars
at the similar cement replacement level and curing age. For exam-
ple, the differences in compressive strength between SNS-10.0 and
LNS-10.0 mortar (SNS-10.0 mortar – LNS-10.0 mortar) are 1.0, 1.1,
1.3, 1.3 and 1.9 MPa respectively at 7, 28, 60, and 90 days of curing.
These results suggest that the compressive strength of SNS mortars
is higher than LNS mortars due to the filler effect of small-sized
SNS particles (d50 = 6.85 lm). It is also observed that for a given
cement replacement level, filler effect is almost constant and inde-
pendent against curing ages. Moreover, the filler effect of the NS
tends to increase slightly with an increase in the amount of cement
replacement level. For example, the maximum compressive
strength due to filler effect is not greater than 1.9 MPa at 90 days
of curing for 2.5–10% cement replacement level. However, the
maximum compressive strength due to the filler effect of NS is
3.3 MPa at 90 days of curing for 10.0–20% cement replacement
level. Therefore, the compressive strength of mortar due to the fil-
ler effect might increase or decrease depending on the particle size
of the NS. This result supports those previous studies where filler
effect of other non-reactive materials was reported [13,16–19].
It is necessary to mention that non-reactive NS (SNS and LNS) is
used in this research as a filler representative to RHA (SRHA and
LRHA), which having approximately same particle sizes to RHA
though the microstructures of both materials are different. There-
fore, the amount of compressive strength of mortar contributed by
192 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198

Fig. 5. Compressive strength of mortar due to filler effect of NS.

Fig. 6. Comparison of flexural strength between (a) SRHA and SNS mortars and (b) LRHA and LNS mortars.

the filler effect is determined for a specific cement replacement higher than SNS10 and SNS20-mortar at the same age. The results
level and curing age. suggest that at 14 days of curing:

3.3. Flexural strength
The flexural strength of RHA (SRHA and LRHA) and NS (SNS and
LNS) mortars were investigated at cement replacement rate of 10%
and 20% at 14, 28 and 90 days of curing. Fig. 6(a) and (b) shows the
flexural strength development of RHA (SRHA and LRHA) mortars at
various curing ages while compared to both control mortar and NS
(SNS and LNS) mortars. From Fig. 6(a), it is observed that flexural
strengths of SRHA10 and SRHA20-mortar are lower than control
mortar at 14 days of curing. Flexural strengths of SRHA10 and
SRHA20-mortar are 7.4 and 6.9 MPa respectively while flexural
strength of control mortar is 7.8 MPa at 14 days of curing. How-
ever, flexural strengths of SRHA10 and SRHA20-mortar are slightly
(i) Flexural strength due to pozzolanic and filler effect of SRHA
is less significant than hydration effect of control mortar
(ii) SRHA mortar gained additional flexural strength than SNS
mortar due to pozzolanic reaction of SRHA.
LRHA10 and LRHA20-mortars show similar results at 14 days of
curing as shown in Fig. 6(b). At 28 and 90 days of curing, flexural
strength of SRHA10 and SRHA20-mortars are higher than control
mortar. It is also noticed that flexural strengths of SRHA10 and
SRHA20-mortar are much higher than SNS10 and SNS20-mortar
at that ages. Flexural strength of SRHA10, SRHA20, SNS10 and
SNS-20 mortars are 9.7 MPa, 10.4 MPa, 7.8 MPa and 7.2 MPa at
90 days of curing. These results suggest that SRHA mortars gain
 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198
significant flexural strength at later ages due to the pozzolanic and
filler effect of SRHA. However, flexural strengths of LRHA10 and
LRHA20-mortar are lower than control mortar even after 28 and
90 days of curing.
At same curing ages, flexural strengths of LRHA-mortar are
slightly higher than LNS-mortar. Flexural strength of control mor-
tar, LRHA10, LRHA20, LNS10 and LNS-20 mortars are 8.9 MPa,
8.6 MPa, 8.4 MPa, 6.9 MPa and 6.7 MPa at 90 days of curing. As a
result, it can be concluded that pozzolanic and filler effects of LRHA
particles are less significant at later ages while compared to hydra-
tion effect of control mortar. Therefore, the influence of RHA fine-
ness (SRHA and LRHA) on the flexural strength of mortar is similar
to the compressive strength of mortar. Habeeb and Fayyadh
reported that flexural strength of RHA concrete increases with
the decreasing of RHA particle sizes [33]. This is due to the incre-
ment of pozzolanic reaction and filler ability of finer RHA particles
as reported by Zhang et al. [7]. Alwash also found higher flexural
strength for concrete containing 20% RHA at the later ages for
higher fineness RHA (Blaine fineness 11200 cm2/g) [34]. The
results obtained by Venkatanarayanan and Rangaraju also support
to the findings of the present study where they used RHA of mean
particle sizes 6 lm and 30 lm [6]. In their investigation, average
flexural strength of concrete containing RHA of 6 lm was
6.20 MPa at 28 days of curing age and 5.87 MPa for concrete con-
taining RHA of 30 lm.
3.4. Water absorption
Fig. 7(a) and (b) shows the result of water absorption tests of
RHA (SRHA and LRHA) and NS (SNS and LNS) mixed mortar carried
out at 7, 28, and 90 days of curing. It is observed that the percent-
age of water absorption of SRHA mortar samples immersed in
water decreases with increasing of curing age from 7 to 90 days
during the hardening process of mortar. Water absorption of
SRHA10 and SRHA20 mortars are 7.6% and 7.4% at 7 days, 4.2%
and 4.1% at 28 days and 2.1% and 2% at 90 days of curing period.
Water absorptions of SRHA mortars are lower than control mortar
and SNS mortars at 7, 28 and 90 days curing as shown in Fig. 7(a).
Fig. 7(a) shows that water absorption of SRHA mortars are lower
than control mortar and SNS mortars at 7, 28 and 90 days curing.
It is also noted that water absorption of SRHA mortar decreases
with the increasing of SRHA content. Therefore, it can be suggested
that with prolonged curing, increasing percentages of SRHA in
mortar can lead to reduction of permeable voids. This is due to
Fig. 7. Water absorption capacity of mortars (a) SRHA and SNS and (b) LRHA and LNS.
193
filler effect and secondary C-S-H products which fills the pores.
The same conclusion is reached by a study of Memon et al. on
the water absorption of concrete incorporating RHA as cement
replacements [35]. Kartini also found that as the percentages of
replacement of cement with finer treated RHA increased, the
degree of water absorption is reduced [36]. Therefore, SRHA mor-
tars have shown better water absorption results due to higher fine-
ness and pozzolanic activity of SRHA particles.
Fig. 7(b) shows that water absorption of LRHA mortars are
higher than control mortar however lower than LNS mortars at
all ages. Water absorption of control mortar, LRHA10, LRHA20,
LNS10 and LNS20 mortars are 4.7%, 4.9%, 5.2%, 5.1% and 5.2% at
28 days of curing and 2.6%, 2.7%, 2.9%, 2.9% and 3% at 90 days of
curing period, respectively, as shown in Fig. 7(b). This might be
due to firstly the nature of large sized or coarser LRHA particles
which is more hygroscopic than small sized or finer SRHA particles
[37]; and secondly, water absorption of LRHA mortar is mainly
attributed from hydration of cement when pozzolanic reaction of
LRHA particles is less significant due to presence of coarser LRHA
particles. In this connection, increase in water absorption of LRHA
mortar which is related to the increase in the amount of LRHA can
be resulted from the reduced amount of cement. Antiohos et al.
reported the same trend that coarse nature of the RHA cannot
improve water resistance either from pozzolanic effect or pore-
filling effect [38]. Venkatanarayanan and Rangaraju explained that
coarser or large-size RHA particles have lesser tendency to uni-
formly spread over wide areas in the wet mixture than finer or
small-size RHA particles [6]. Consequently, results in increasing
the particle to particle distance in the cementitious matrix and
decreasing the homogeneity of the mixture [6].
3.5. Porosity
Total porosity of RHA (SRHA and LRHA) and NS (SNS and LNS)
mortars were measured by Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP)
test at the curing ages of 7, 28 and 90 days. Fig. 8(a) shows the total
porosity of SRHA and SNS mortars at various curing ages. At 7 days
of curing, total porosity of SRHA10 and SRHA20-mortars are 2.8%
and 2.7%, while total porosity of SNS10 and SNS20-mortars are
3.4% and 3.8%. Similarly, at 90 days of curing, total porosity of
SRHA10 and SRHA20-mortars are 1.9% and 1.0%, respectively;
while total porosity of SNS10 and SNS20-mortars are 2.6% and
3.0%, respectively. From Fig. 6(a), it can be concluded that total
porosity of SRHA mortars is lower than the control mortar at all
194 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198

Fig. 8. Porosity of mortars (a) SRHA and SNS and (b) LRHA and LNS.

ages. The total porosity of SRHA mortar decreases with the incre-
ment of SRHA content and curing ages. This is due to higher filler
and pozzolanic effects of SRHA particles which reduce entire
porosities by providing homogeneous microstructure.
Rukzon and Chindaprasirt reported that the porosities of RHA
mixed concrete is reduced with the curing time due to additional
pozzolanic reaction [39]. The product of pozzolanic reaction fills
the voids and increases the density of concrete. However, LRHA
mortars show reverse manner compared to control mortar as
shown in Fig. 8(b). This is an expected result because of less poz-
zolanic reaction of LRHA particles through the mortar system
whereas SRHA mortars are associated with higher pozzolanic and
filler activity of SRHA particles. It is also noted that total porosity
of LRHA mortars are lower than LNS mortars at all ages. This
may due to the slight pozzolanic reaction of LRHA particles which
reduces the porosity. Total porosity of LRHA10, LRHA20, LNS10 and
LNS20-mortars are 2.8%, 3.3%, 3.8% and 3.9% at 90 days of curing.
Shatat described that usually hydration of cement progresses the
hydration products which can fill some pores due to the volume
of hydration products is more or twice than that of the anhydrous
cement [40]. However, formation of further hydration products
from pozzolanic reaction of RHA with liberated CH also fills some
of pores in cementitious matrix. Therefore, the addition of SRHA
particles gives pore refinement and reduction of total pore volume
due to filler effect and high pozzolanic reaction [40].
3.6. Microstructure of RHA and NS mortars
3.6.1. SEM/EDX analysis
3.6.1.1. Microstructure of SRHA and SNS mortars. The microstructure
of 28 days aged mortar specimens containing SRHA and SNS at 10
and 20% cement replacement level is presented in Figs. 10(a–c) and
11(a and b). As the Fig. 9 shows, the control mortar is characterized
by large number of pores with significantly large-sized and numer-
ous unhydrated cement grains. The microstructure of SRHA-10.0
and SRHA-20.0 mortars shown in Fig. 10(a–c), are characterized
by denser paste with very minimal porosity and fewer unhydrated
cement grains while compared to control mortar (Fig. 9). Due to
the absence of large-size or coarse RHA grains, the internal porosity
created by their cellular microstructure in the matrix of SRHA mor-
tars is also virtually absent. It is anticipated that the finer SRHA
grains present in the mortar matrix would have completely partic-
ipated in the pozzolanic reaction to form secondary C-S-H gel, con-
sidering the higher surface area, fineness and amorphous silica
content of the SRHA particles. EDX analysis in the dense paste zone
of SRHA 20.0 mortar was performed and is shown in Fig. 10(c). It

Fig. 9. Microstructure development of control mortar.

 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198 195

Fig. 10. Microstructure development of (a) SRHA-10.0 mortar(b) SRHA-20.0 mortar and (c) EDX at X-X spectrum.

confirms the presence of higher amounts of calcium, silica and oxy-
gen in the dense paste zone of SRHA 20.0 mortar. This indicates the
formation of secondary C-S-H gel in such zone where RHA reacts
with the cement hydration products Ca(OH)2.
A comparison of the Fig. 10(a) and (b) indicates that the amount
of pores and unhydrated cement grains decreases with the increase
of SRHA percentages. In addition, A comparison of the Figs. 9 and
10(a and b), indicates that the total porosity and the unhydrated
cement grains for the SRHA mortars are lesser than the control
mortar. Consequently, it shows well refined and dense microstruc-
ture due to good filler and pozzolanic actions of the SRHA particles.
This microstructural study strongly supports the study carried out
by Venkatanarayanan & Rangaraju [6]. Karim et al. also reported a
homogenous and less porous RHA mixed mortar microstructure
[41]. The microstructure of SNS-10.0 and SNS-20.0 mortars are
shown in Fig. 11(a and b), are characterized by denser paste with
very minimal porosity, however more amount of unhydrated
cement grains while compared to SRHAmortars (Fig. 10). It is
observed that both SNS-10.0 and SNS-20.0 mortars are densely
arranged due to filler effect of SNS particles, however a microstruc-
tural failure or a larger crack propaganda is visible evidently in SNS
20.0 mortar as shown in Fig. 11(b). This may happen by two
reasons: (i) during the preparation of specimen due to artifacts
process and (ii)due to the reduction of binder (cement) materials.
Goldman and Bentur reported that, when cement is replaced by
a non-reactive material to prepare cementitious specimen, it
improves the microstructure through filler mechanism which is
an improved packing of the hydration products in to the

Fig. 11. Microstructure development of (a) SNS-10.0 mortar and (b) SNS-20.0 mortar.
196 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198

microstructure [14]. However, at higher cement replacement level
of the main binder material (cement) is reduced significantly. As a
result the internal bonding of SNS particles may collapse. It is nec-
essary to mention that SNS is a non-reactive materials therefore it
cannot produce any chemical bonding with cement hydration
products. Thus, the second reason might be considered with scien-
tific knowledge and argument.
3.6.1.2. Microstructure of LRHA and LNS mortars. The microstructure
of LRHA and LNS mortars is shown in Figs. 12(a–c) and 13(a and b),
respectively. The microstructure of LRHA mortars is characterized
by porous structure in presence of embedded coarser LRHA grains
and some unhydrated or partially hydrated cement grains.
Venkatanarayanan and Rangaraju [6] reported that the embedded
large-size or coarse RHA grains may increase the porosity of matrix
in two ways: (i) by creating internal porosity within the matrix and
(ii) by storing or holding available water within their internal
pores. The microstructure of LRHA mortars also indicate a rela-
tively lesser dense paste in case of less significant pozzolanic reac-
tion of LRHA particles. The EDX analysis of LRHA-20.0 mortar in the
zone of embedded large-size RHA grains is shown in Fig. 12(c). It
indicates higher amount of silica, but lesser amount of calcium as
compared to Fig. 10(c). Less pozzolanic activity of coarser LRHA
might be the reason for the presence of higher amount of silica.
Venkatanarayanan and Rangaraju [6] reported similar result for
unground (d50 = 30 lm) low carbon content RHA. Good agreement
with the compressive strength of mortar is observed due to poz-
zolanic reaction of LRHA particles. By comparing the Fig. 12
(a) and (b), the total porosity in the paste of the LRHA mixed
mortars (excluding those pores inherent to the embedded coarse
RHA grain) increases with the increment of LRHA percentages.
Fig. 13(a and b) shows the microstructure of LNS-10.0 and

Fig. 12. Microstructure development of (a) LRHA-10.0 mortar(b) LRHA-20.0 mortar and (c) EDX at X-X spectrum.

Fig. 13. Microstructure development of (a) LNS-10.0 mortar and (b) LNS-20.0 mortar.
 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198
Fig. 14. XRD patterns of SRHA and LRHA mortars.
Fig. 15. XRD patterns of SNS and LNS mortars.
LNS-20.0 mortars. These are characterized with more unhydrated
cement grain and microstructural failure due to absence of binder
material (cement). It is also noticed that large-sized LNS did not
bring any significant changes in the microstructure from the filler
effect. Mohammed et al. found crooked/rough surface for lime
stone mixed paste at the hydrate-limestone powder interface [42].
3.6.2. XRD analysis
The XRD patterns of hydrated cement paste, RHA (SRHA and
LRHA) and NS (SNS and LNS) mortars (obtained at 28 days of cur-
ing) are presented in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15. The XRD (qualitative) does
not provide any reliable quantitative information, it is considered
as a sensitive technique which gives acceptable information about
the most probable phases. Four main crystalline phases are identi-
fied: Quartz (Q), Portlandite-Calcium hydroxide (CH), Calcite (C)
and Ettringite (E). The detected pure quartz does not represent
one of the hydration products but it is likely to be due to the pres-
ence of SiO2 in the sand particles. In case of in cement paste matrix
no sharp peak exists for quartz. The main focus of the discussion
will be on the presence and intensity of both the CH and C. The
diffractograms demonstrate that the height of peaks characterizing
the portlandite phase (CH) decreases with increasing of the SRHA
content as shown in Fig. 14. The calcium hydroxide releases during
cement hydration is consumed as a result of interaction with active
197
amorphous silica present in the SRHA to form the C-S-H phases,
which can contribute to the mechanical and durability properties
of concrete and mortar. It is necessary to mention that the traces
of C-S-H compounds in SRHA mortar might be interrupted due to
presence of pure quartz. On the other hand, sharp peak of C and
higher amount of CH are found in LRHA mortar. This expected
result is due to less significant pozzolanic reaction of LRHA. There
is no obvious change in diffractograms of SNS and LNS mortar as
presented in Fig. 15. Both mortars shows high peak for quartz-Q
and calcite-C. The higher intensity of the calcite-C and quartz-Q
peaks in the NS mortar indicates a higher proportion of this phase
and this is likely to be due to the presence of un-reacted NS parti-
cles. The XRD observation results are coherent with the previous
studies [42–45].
4. Conclusions
In this study, RHA produced from a controlled combustion pro-
cess was investigated to determine its individual contributions
(physical and chemical) on the strength and microstructure devel-
opment of mortar. Mortar mixtures containing SRHA and LRHA
were prepared separately and their strengths were compared with
that of the control mortar and mortar mixtures containing SNS and
LNS to understand the physical and chemical effects of RHA. In
addition, microscopic examination of RHA and NS mixtures were
conducted to understand the microstructural features. Results
obtained from this study provided the following conclusions:
1. When RHA is applied in preparation of mortar specimens, the
compressive strength of mortar significantly increased due to
the filler and pozzolanic actions. However, pozzolanic reaction
of RHA contributes little amount at early ages (7 and 14 days)
strength development of mortar. Pozzolanic reaction of RHA
depends on particle size, age and cement replacement percent-
ages. Pozzolanic reaction of RHA blended mortar is almost twice
after 90 days of curing when particle size of RHA reduced from
18.6 lm to 6.72 lm.
2. The pozzolanic reaction of RHA is more pronounced than the fil-
ler effect of ground natural sand at the same particle size,
cement replacement level and age. The filler effect of ground
natural sand was almost constant against age and not more
than 3.3 MPa. The obtained filler effect of ground NS may vary
while uses other particle sizes.
3. Flexural strength, water absorption and porosity performance
of mortar containing small-size RHA (SRHA) are significant
due to higher degree of pozzolanic and filler activity.
4. The studies conducted to understand the microstructure
development of mortar due to filler and pozzolanic effects
RHA mortar mixtures revealed the following:
4.1. The microstructure of the SRHA mortars is denser than that
of the control mortar and SNS mortars primarily due to les-
ser amounts of un-hydrated cement grains, porosity and
more amounts dense cementitious paste anticipated to be
rich in C-S-H gel. This is due to good filler and pozzolanic
reactions of finer SRHA.
4.2. The microstructure of the LRHA mortars is denser than that
of LNS mortars, however there exist embedded coarse RHA
grains which may increase entire porosity of mortar, un-
hydrated cement grains and less amounts dense cementi-
tious paste suggested that poorer pozzolanic reaction of
LRHA.
4.3. XRD of mortars suggests that the lower amount of port-
landite phase (CH) in RHA mortars than NS mortars due
to pozzolanic activity of RHA.
198 M. Jamil et al. / Construction and Building Materials 128 (2016) 185–198
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education of
Malaysia for providing the necessary funding required for the
research through Exploratory Research Grant scheme
(ERGS/1/2011/TK/UKM/02/10).
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