Abstract: “his paper presents an experimental study on cement mortars with different originated pumice aggregates (PA) in order to investigate PA effects on some properties of mortars. Natural sand (NS) was also used to prepare control mortars as reference mix. With this purpose, experiments for aggregate characterisation were conducted and additionally compressive strength, flexural and splitting tensile strength tests were performed on mortars. Results obtained throughout experimental study were analyzed and compared. Replacement of PA with NS led to decreases in mechanical properties of mortars. However, these reductions were differentiated due to the different properties of aggregates. The investigation undertaken also demonstrated the possibility of pumice aggregates in production of structural lightweight mortars.”

Keywords: pumice aggregate, compressive strength, tensile strength; lightweight mortar