Per: valber domingos pinheiro (UENF), RAMON FERNANDES DE ABREU (UENF), LETÍCIA ABREU da FONSECA (uenf), Afonso Rangel Garcez de Azevedo (uenf), jonas alexandre (uenf)
Abstract:
Clay is a natural material that has been used since ancient times for construction and housing development. Its widespread use is due to its unique physical and chemical properties, which make it an economical and accessible alternative due to its unique physical and chemical properties, as well as its abundance and low cost. In addition, clay contributes to the sustainability of the sector, especially when used as a supplementary cementitious material, partially replacing Portland cement and reducing the carbon footprint. The use of clays, whether in their natural state or subjected to heat treatment (calcination), has been the subject of growing interest due to their abundance, low cost and sustainable potential. In general terms, clay promotes an increase in the plasticity of mortars when in its natural state, however, in its calcined state, the higher the temperature of the heat treatment, the lower its plasticity. These benefits make clay a recurrent and efficient choice in various construction applications. This study evaluates the influence of replacing natural clay with calcined clay on the compressive strength of mortars. Three formulations were compared: a reference mortar, one with clay in its natural state and another with clay calcined at 600 °C. The results indicate that calcining the clay at 600 °C, despite promoting greater pozzolanic reactivity, does not affect the compressive strength of the mortar.