Study of peanut husk ashes properties to promote its use as supplementary material in cement mortars

The properties of peanut husk ashes as a potential supplementary material in cement mortars were studied in the laboratory. The ashes were prepared in an electric furnace at 500, 650 and 800 ºC during 180 minutes and used without further treatment. The characterization of ashes includes X-Ray fluorescence, X-Ray diffraction, SEM, and determination of pozzolanic activity by conductivity. The ashes were tested in mortars as partial substitute of Portland cement, in a rate of 15 % of substitution. The compression strength of mortars was evaluated between 7 and 120 days, for probes prepared using a proportion of cement:sand of 1:3 on weight with water/cement ratio of 0,5 v/v. It was observed that the calcinations conditions influenced the behavior of the ashes, giving better results the ashes obtained at 500 ºC. The compression tests showed values near to 70% at 7 days but higher than 80% after 28 days for mortars prepared with ashes, respect to the cement mortar reference.