Sand-cement mixture suitable for mortar

Abstract: A mixture suitable for special building mortars, particularly for floors, bricklaying and/or pointing work, which mixture comprises at least a sand and a cement fraction, wherein the sand fraction is composed of a quantity (35 per cent) of river sand and a quantity (65 per cent) of crushed sand obtained by mechanical size reduction from natural stone such as limestone, granite, marble or the like, so making it possible to increase the bending/tensile strength without detracting from the workability.

Description: The invention relates to a mixture suitable for special building mortars, particularly for floors, bricklaying and/or pointing work, which mixture comprises at least a sand and a cement fraction. Mortars for the building industry are normally obtained by mixing sand, cement and water, either with or without extra additives such as filler materials. Such mixes have a comparatively low bending/tensile strength and are subject to shrink phenomena. The comparatively low bending/tensile strength is a drawback for mortars which must resist forces, for instance floor and bricklaying mortar respectively. The shrink rate is of significance in pointing mortars. In a mixture known from LU-A-28.186 the sand fraction is composed of a quantity of river sand and a quantity of crushed sand obtained by mechanical size reduction from natural stone such as limestone, granite, marble or the like. Due to the addition of sharp-contoured granulate, a distinguishing property of sand obtained by mechanical size reduction, to the normally used river sand grains, it is possible to increase the bending/tensile strength without detracting from the workability. Rounded river sand is in any case usually used because of the easy workability of the mortar obtained therewith. The invention has for its object to influence the mix of the type described in the preamble in order to ameliorate said mixture for particular applications. It has been established in tests that a mix of 65% broken natural stone plus 35% natural sand provides an increase of the compressive strength of about 20% and an increase in the bending/tensile strength of about 60%. It has also been determined in tests that with different ratios of cement to sand, which may vary from 1:10 to 1:5, the strength increases as the cement factor becomes larger. It is recommended that the natural stone granulate has a granular structure of 0 to 2 mm and the natural sand a granular structure of 125 µm to 1 mm. A mix suitable for level-flow floors is according to the invention more particularly distinguished in that the natural stone granulate has a granular structure of 20 µm to 3 mm and the natural sand a granular structure of 250 to 500µm, wherein the ratio of granulate and river sand varies from 80-20 and 60-40% respectively. The following values apply in the case of pointing mortar: The natural stone granulate has a granular structure of 63 µm to 1 mm and the river sand a granular structure of 20 to 63 µm. The percentage of natural stone granulate here lies below 50% of the total sand fraction. The following values apply in the case of bricklaying mortar: The granular structure of natural stone granulate varies between 20 µm and 2 mm and that of natural sand between 63 µm and 2 mm. The percentage of natural stone granulate in the total sand fraction is here preferably more than 50%. It has been found that both for floor and bricklaying mortar the natural stone granulate must make up more than half the sand fraction in order to increase respectively the desired compressive strength and bending/tensile strength. In order to reduce the shrink factor in the case of pointing mortar the amount of natural stone granulate must lie below 50%. The improvement in the bending/tensile strength and the compressive strength in a mix suitable for floors is further elucidated hereinbelow with reference to a number of tests. The tests were carried out with six mixtures, in which the ratio of cement to sand varied from 1:10 to 1:5. 1:5 1:6 1:7 1:8 1:9 sand (kg) 10 10 14.994 17.136 19.278 cement (kg) 2 1.667 2 2 2 water (l) 0.830 0.630 0.543 0.611 0.660 The temperature of the mortar was 21°C and the mixing time to obtain the mixture was 4 minutes. The sand fraction consists of 70% broken limestone and 30% river sand. The cement fraction was formed by portland fly ash cement from the manufacturer ENCI. From the graphs can be seen that the strength ratio increases considerably in comparison to mixtures of only river sand, see the curves I - II - III, and the above mentioned percentage of 70% crushed sand, see the curves IV - V. It is noted here that curve I is a measurement after one day of curing, curves II, V have undergone a curing time of 28 days and the curves III, IV a curing time of 7 days. It can be seen clearly from the graphs that the addition of crushed sand to the mix in all the ratios of sand to cement gives an increase in the compressive strength and bending/tensile strength respectively. The invention is of course not limited to the above stated mixing quantities and ratios.

Claims: Mixture suitable for special building mortars, as floor mortar, said mixture comprises at least a sand and a cement fraction, wherein the sand fraction is composed of a quantity of river sand and a quantity of crushed sand obtained by mechanical size reduction from natural stone such as limestone, granite, marble or the like, characterized in that the sand fraction is composed of a river sand with a grain size distribution of 250 to 500 µm and a crushed sand with a grain size distribution of 20 µm to 3 mm, wherein the percentage of crushed sand lies between 80 and 60% of the total sand fraction. Mixture suitable for special building mortars, as pointing mortar, said mixture comprises at least a sand and a cement fraction, wherein the sand fraction is composed of a quantity of river sand and a quantity of crushed sand obtained by mechanical size reduction from natural stone such as limestone, granite, marble or the like, characterized in that the sand fraction is composed of river sand with a grain size distribution of 20 to 62 µm and a crushed sand with a grain size distribution between 63 µm and 1 mm, wherein the crushed sand makes up less than 50% of the total sand fraction. Mixture suitable for special building mortars, as for bricklaying mortar, said mixture comprises at least a sand and a cement fraction, wherein the sand fraction is composed of a quantity of river sand and a quantity of crushed sand obtained by mechanical size reduction from natural stone such as limestone, granite, marble or the like, characterized in that the sand fraction is composed of a river sand with a grain size between 63 µm and 2 mm and a crushed sand with a grain size between 20 µm and 2 mm, wherein the quantity of crushed sand makes up more than 50% of the total sand fraction.

Inventors: SMALS MICHAEL RENIER, SMALS, MICHAEL RENIER
Applicants: GRINT & ZANDEXPL MIJ VH SMALS, B.V. GRINT- EN ZANDEXPLOITATIEMAATSCHAPPIJ V/H GEBRS. SMALS
Application year: 1991
Main classification: C04B20
IPC codes: C04B28, C04B20