Effect of elevated temperatures on properties and color intensities of fly ash mortar

This research examines the engineering properties and color intensities of mortar containing different amounts of fly ash (0, 5, 10 and 20%) mixed at different water-to-binder ratios (w/b = 0.23, 0.47 and 0.59) and exposed at different temperatures (T = 25, 100, 200, 400, 600 and 800oC). Results show that there is greater mass loss on ignition with high w/b and higher temperatures. In addition, the color channel image analyzer (Windows software written in Delphi) is utilized to study the relationship between the curing temperature and intensity of three primary colors, red, green and blue (RGB), of the fly ash mortar specimens. The results show that the RGB intensities on the specimen surface increases from that at 25oC. The mortar specimen becomes white with increase in w/b but without the addition of fly ash. Moreover, for mortar specimens with greater content of fly ash, red on the specimen surface has the greatest increase in intensity at elevated temperature. Observation the variations in color on the specimen surface may help estimate the highest elevated temperatures that concrete structures can withstand.