Pozzolanic activity tests as a measure of pozzolans' performance. Part 2

Part 1 of the current paper demonstrated the lack of agreement between the results obtained from different standard pozzolanic activity tests. This can be explained by the significant differences observed in the recommended test procedures that, in some cases, allow variations in parameters which have a remarkable influence on the pozzolanic reaction. Given this fact, the part of the research programme presented here was conducted to verify the actual influence of several different parameters on the consistency and compressive strength of mortar specimens. These parameters included water/cementitious materials ratio, pozzolan type and content, type of cement, age and presence of water-reducing admixtures. It was found that the performance exhibited by pozzolans in these tests did not correlate with that obtained in standard pozzolanic activity index tests shown in the first part of this research.