With cement accounting for up to 10% of annual global CO2 emissions (aviation industry accounts for approximately 3%) it is imperative to reduce the amount of cement content in construction materials without compromising performance. As lime mortars, especially lime putty taking up to 90 days to fully set it is important to reduce the setting time by at least 60%. This text investigates the effect of pozzolanic addition of up to 2.5% to different lime mortars in terms of setting time. It was found that in some cases the objectives were achieved, however, in some cases the findings indicated a higher amount of pozzolanic addition is necessary to achieve satisfactory setting time (by 28 days).

Dr Ash Ahmed, Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, UK, PhD in Chemistry from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, MPhil in Metallurgy from Manchester University, BSc (Hons) in Materials Science from Manchester University.