Properties of blended cement paste with diatomite from Aceh Province Indonesia

This paper presents the properties of blended cement paste, i.e. water demand, setting time, flow, flexural strength and compressive strength with diatomite from Aceh Besar District, Aceh Province, Indonesia. Diatomite was calcined at the temperature of 500 °C for 4 hours, ground and sieved with sieve #200. The diatomite content used in this study was 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% of blended cement weight. The diatomite powder, cement, and water were mixed in a mixer to produce blended cement paste. EN and ASTM Standards were used for the test procedures. Water demand for normal consistency, setting time and flow was tested on freshly blended cement paste. Flexural and compression tests were performed on the 40 mm × 40 mm × 160 mm prism and 50 mm size cube specimens at the specimen age of 28 days. The test results show that the water demand increases with increasing the diatomite content. Initial setting time, flow and flexural strength decrease with increasing the diatomite contents. The use of 10 % and 20 % diatomite does not significantly alter the compressive strength.