Evaluation of the physical-mechanical properties of mortar with cement/‘Ndoor’ composite binder

Abstract

Abstract The aim of our work is to characterize a mortar with a cement/‘Ndoor’ composite binder. The ‘Ndoor’ of scientific name ‘Irvingia Gabonensis’ is a vegetal material used as food (glutinous sauce) in Nigeria and also in the region of the East, the South, the North-West and the South-West of Cameroon. It is in fact the kernels of wild mango. We determine experimentally the mechanical properties of a mortar modified by partial substitution of cement by an addition called ‘Ndoor’. In experimental campaign, we realize different formulations of mortar diversified by the dosage of cement and ‘Ndoor’, which were made in the form of prismatic specimens 4*4*16 cm3. Compression tests were carried out, which allowed us to obtain the values of compressive strength and tensile strength. The results show that the ‘Ndoor’ improves the development of the mechanical resistances at the young age especially for values of substitution of the order of 2.5%, 5% and 7.5%. As a complement to the tests, a modeling having a predictive character of the elastic behavior of a mortar elastic behavior of a composite cement/‘Ndoor’ binder mortar is done. For this purpose, we have mortar has two phases: the hydrated cement paste and the inclusions (sand and ‘Ndoor’). The elastic properties of the cement paste are determined by the self-coherent homogenization model. Knowing the elastic properties of the cement paste and the inclusions, those of the mortar are deduced by the diluted scheme model of ESHELBY. The results show that, in the presence of the ‘Ndoor’, as the mass ratio e/c increases, the Young’s modulus of the modified mortar decreases.