Análise da influência da forma dos grãos nas propriedades das argamassas

Abstract

The construction industry causes high environmental impact due to large consumption of raw materials. Due to the restriction of sand extraction and the reduction of natural sand, with a consequent increase in cost, the use of crushed fine aggregates in construction has become increasingly common in large urban centers. The use of crushed fine aggregates made with appropriate procedures and equipments can be an alternative to replace the sand extracted of rivers for the production of rendering mortars. This paper discusses the technical characteristics of three different aggregates with distinct morphologies: the natural sand (alluvial sand) and two basalt crushed fine aggregates, produced by different crushers, and evaluate the behavior of mortars produced from these sands. Differences in particle size, shape and surface texture of the grains changes the behavior of mortars made with this aggregates. The properties of a reference mortar made with river sand was compared with others, replacing the river sand aggregate by crushed aggregates, and the same procedure was performed for different levels of addition of fillers in the mortar. Brazilian CP II Z-32 cement and CH-I lime were used for production of twenty mortars: eight with VSI crushed aggregates, four with jaw crushed sand mortars and eight with natural sand. The 1: 1: 6 (cement, lime and sand by volume) proportion was adopted, with consistency index of 260mm±5mm on the consistency table. Properties measured in the fresh state were consistency index, workability (by squezze-flow and cone penetration), air content, water retention and density. On the hardened state, density, compressive strength, flexural strength, capillarity water absorption, water absorption, shrinkage and modulus of elasticity were determined. Rendering mortar were applied over two substrates with different water absorption, determining bond strength and cracking. There were observed significant differences in the behavior of mortars made with different aggregates, as loss of workability and of density, reduction of compressive and flexural strength, decreasing of modulus of elasticity, increasing of absorption and density.