Objective- This method is used for the determination of pozzolans and ground granulated blast-furnace slag ability to

control deleterious internal expansion. This internal expansion is generally occurred because of alkali aggregate reaction.
This test method is known as Accelerated Mortar Bar Test Method.
This test method is developed by National Building Research Institute (NBRI) South Africa.
This test method is used for detection of potential for deleterious alkali-silica reaction of combinations of cementitious
materials and aggregate in mortar bars within 16 days. The assessment is made by measuring the increase in length of
representative mortar bars containing the aggregate concerned, during storage under prescribed test conditions

Limitation – underestimate result for pozzolans with an alkali content > 4.0 % sodium oxide equivalent.

In this method following reagents are used-

Sodium hydroxide solution – 1M±0.05 NaOH solution
Hydrochloric acid – 1M HCl solution
Phenolphthalene indicator
Water – distilled or deionised to be used as mixing water

Aggregate selected in this method is crushed aggregate having size less than 4.75 mm size (No. 4), Cement used in this
method should be finer than 850 µm size after removing all lumps.Aggregate is graded as per the table 1 shown below-

TABLE 1 Grading Requirements

Sieve Size Passing Sieve Size Retained Mass, %
4.75 mm (No. 4) 2.36 mm (No. 8) 10
2.36 mm (No. 8) 1.18 mm (No. 16) 25
1.18 mm (No. 16) 600 µm (No. 30) 25
600 µm (No. 30) 300 µm (No. 50) 25
300 µm (No. 50) 150 µm (No. 100) 15

Proportion mortar consist of 1 Part of Cemetitious Material (hydraulic cement plus pozzolan or ground granulated blast
furnace slag) and 2.25 part of graded aggregate by mass having relative density greater than 2.45. the quantities of dry
materials to be mixed at one time in the batch of mortar for making three specimens shall be 440 g of cementitious
material and 990 g of aggregate made up by recombining the portions retained on the various sieves in the grading as per
table 1.

For aggregate having relative density less than 2.45 aggregate proportion is determined by the following formula-
2.25 x D
Aggregate Proportion , where D = relative density (OD) of test aggregate.
2.65

The quantities of dry material to be mixed in this case will be 440 g of cementitious material and 440 g of aggregate
multiplied by above calculated aggregate proportion. 0.47 Water cement ratio is used in both above cases. After selection
and proportion of graded aggregate with respective relative density.
The quantities of dry material to be mixed and Mold test specimens within a total elapsed time of not
more than 2 min and 15 s after completion of the original mixing of the mortar batch. . Fill the molds with two
approximately equal layers, each layer being compacted with the tamper. After preparation of mortar bar, it should be
placed immediately in moist cabinet or room. The specimens shall remain in the molds for 24 +/- 2 h. after removing
specimen from mold record initial reading to the nearest 0.002 mm. Place the specimen in an oven or water bath at 80.0
+/- 2.0 °C for a period of 24 h +/- 2 h.
Record the reading of specimen after removing from oven or water bath and dry
their surface. Complete the process of drying and reading within 15 +/- 5 s of removing the specimen from the water.
Place all specimen in 1N NaOH, at 80.0 +/- 2.0 °C with at least three intermediate readings, for 14 days after the zero
reading, at approximately the same time each day. Calculate the difference between the zero comparator reading of the
specimen and the reading at each period to the nearest 0.001 % of the effective gage length and record as the expansion
of the specimen for that period. A graph of the length change data from the time of the zero reading to the end of the 16
day period.