Effect of Water Absorption and Sorptivity on Durability of Pozzocrete Mortar

ABSTRACT- After evaporation of excess water in the mortar, voids inside the mortar creates capillaries which are directly related to porosity and permeability of the mortar. Proper selection of ingredients, adequate mix proportioning & followed by good construction practices lead to almost impervious mortar. Due to incomplete compaction; mortar may consists gel pores & capillary pores, which leads to low strength of mortar. Due to problems associated with the absorption test and permeability test; which are measuring the response of mortar to pressure which is rarely the driving force of fluids entering in to mortar; hence there is a need for another type of test. Such tests should measure the rate of absorption of water by capillary suction; “sorptivity ” of unsaturated mortar. In this paper, an attempt is made to study sorptivity and water absorption properties of Pozzocrete mortar. The mix design was carried out for 1:3 proportion cement mortar on the basis of IS 269:1970. Key words-capillary suction,sorptivity, water absorption,