Development of sustainable construction material relies on our ability to monitor the impact of change in material configuration on resulting microstructure and strength development. The wide ranging active and passive techniques available for microstructure characterization estimates composition at discrete time…
Development of sustainable construction material relies on our ability to monitor the impact of change in material configuration on resulting microstructure and strength development. The wide ranging active and passive techniques available for microstructure characterization estimates composition at discrete time periods. This is because either the sample is destroyed during the test or is surface modified rendering it unsuitable for future use. Present study adopts optical microscope to monitor microstructure development in ordinary and pozzolana blended mortar samples. The non-intrusive character and ease of sample preparation allows for progressive mapping of target areas thus capturing information on microstructure evolution. To assess variation in microstructure evaluations, three different mortar compositions namely with ordinary portland cement (OPC), pozzolana portland cement (PPC) and OPC with fly ash C is considered. Cement to sand ratio for all compositions is chosen as 1:3 and constant water binder ratio of 0.48 is maintained. Samples are then subjected to curing and taken out at regular interval, air dried and imaged. In order to ensure reliable results, all images are taken at constant height and light intensity. The obtained images are then analyzed through image processing techniques for evolution of pixel intensities and its correlationship with microstructural features of the material. 1 Shivang D. Jayswal, Harshkumar S. Patel, Chinmay J. Desai, Harshil M. Patel, Mahesh P.