The effect of clay type, fineness and methylene blue value on mini-slump performance of cementitious systems

Abstract

It is known that the fresh and hardened properties of cementitious systems are adversely affected by the increase in aggregate clay content. It was emphasized that the fresh state properties of cementitious systems are affected by the clay type. In this study, the effects of clay type, fineness and methylene blue value on the mini-slump performance of cement paste mixtures were investigated. For this purpose, 3% of the cement weight, bentonite, kaolin and limestone powder passed through a 0.125 mm sieve were used. It was determined that bentonite clay used within the scope of the study had a 5 times higher methylene blue value compared to kaolin. It was determined that the mini-slump value of the mixtures increased with the increase of the water/cement ratio, independent of the clay type, and the said values decreased with the addition of clay. In terms of mini-slump performance, the clay fineness parameter was found to be more dominant than the methylene blue value.