Study on silica fume modified mortar with various Indian cements cured at different temperatures

The compressive strength of silica fume modified mortars, made with various Indian cements conforming to Indian Standard codes (IS codes), are studied. The maximum increase in strength, due to addition of silica fume and the corresponding optimum silica fume content is found to be considerably less than the same reported in the studies using cements conforming to ASTM standards. This may perhaps be due to the lesser content of tri-calcium silicate (C3S) in Indian cements, as observed in the present study. The variation in strength of silica fume modified mortar of various ages at high, medium and low curing temperatures are also reported. The guidelines obtained from these results may be useful for site application of silica fume modified mortar/concrete in countries with a wide variation of climatic temperatures, like India.