## 3 Results and Discussion
### Cement Mortars
#### 3.2.5 Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP)  
The results obtained for the mercury intrusion porosimetry tests are compiled in Table 8:  
Figures 11-13 show the results obtained at low and high pressure for the two specimens under study (R and CBC-0.4). The following graphs indicated a different behavior in the porous distribution of the two analyzed specimens. In that sense, Figure 11 shows that a higher volume of mercury by sample weight was introduced into the reference specimen for the same test pressure. It indicated a higher porosity of the reference sample, compared to the CBC-0.4 specimen. The maximum pressure used in the test (42.070 PSI) until a volume of 0.2341 cc/g was introduced in the reference sample, whereas a volume of 0.0567 cc/g in the CBC-0.4 sample. The tests carried out at high pressure showed a constant volume of mercury in each sample regardless of the pressure used. For the reference sample, this volume reached a value higher than 0.3956, compared to 0.1958 reached in the CBC-04 mortar. On the other hand, Figure 12 shows the normalized mercury volume according to the pore size. At a low pressure, the volume of mercury was strongly higher in the reference simple (R; approximately four times higher than the CBC-0.4 sample) concentrated mainly in the small diameters. Likewise, the graph of the reference specimen presented an uneven porous distribution with a high percentage of intraparticle capillaries between 10 and 5 \(\upmu\)m. Regarding the interparticle distribution, the highest proportion of capillaries was concentrated in a range between 20 and 5 \(\upmu\)m. Considering the CBC-0.4 sample, it can  
Figure 10: Mechanical properties of cement mortars (**a**) Flexural strength results; (**b**) Compressive strength values. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Samples** & **Porosity Type** & **Reference (R)** & **CBC-0.4** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{**Low Pressure**} & **Total [\%]** & 31.60 & 7.04 \\  & **Interparticle [\%]** & 31.60 & 7.04 \\  & **Interparticle [\%]** & 0.00 & 0.00 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{**High Pressure**} & **Total [\%]** & 59.08 & 26.43 \\  & **Interparticle [\%]** & 0.73 & 7.72 \\  & **Interparticle [\%]** & 58.35 & 18.71 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Mercury intrusion porosimetry tests results. be observed that the sample presented an appreciable decrease in the volume of pores. In this case, the porous distribution was more homogeneous, although the existence of a percentage of large-capillary (200-1000 \(\upmu\)m) intraparticles should be noted. As for the porous interparticle distribution, it presented a capillary distribution more homogeneous with a diameter between 200 and 5 \(\upmu\)m. Besides, at high pressure, the mercury volume was significantly higher for the reference sample, reaching values over 0.3956 cc/g, compared to the CBC-0.4 sample that reached values over 0.1958, which showed a higher porosity in the reference sample. Figure 11: The normalized volume of mercury vs. pressure (low and high). Intraparticle porosity is shown in red and interparticle one in blue: (**a**) Reference at low pressure; (**b**) MBC-0.4 at low pressure; (**c**) Reference at high pressure; (**d**) MBC-0.4 at high pressure. Finally, Figure 13 shows the normalized intraparticle volume according to the pore-size histogram. In the results obtained at low pressure, a high percentage of small capillaries (5-10 \(\upmu\)m) in the reference specimen and a very low concentration in higher pore size was observed. In relation to the CBC-0.4 specimen, a more homogeneous porous distribution was observed, with a higher concentration of capillaries with a larger pore diameter.