Abstract

The desert environment of Region II provides interesting materials, both natural and artificial, that have special properties that can be used to produce new cementitious mix. In the present work, some base pozzolanic materials used to form special conglomerates, such as the thermoelectric fly ash, the natural pozzolan of volcanic origin and desert dust are characterized. All these materials are available in the region in great amounts. Results from chemical analysis using xR fluorescence for all materials are presented. Mortar samples were prepared using these materials and considering different combinations of conglomerates of the "Cement-Pozzolane" binary type. For this combination, comparisons are made based on the replacing of 30% of portland cement by the active pozzolanic materials named above. also a comparison is made using mortars prepared with calcareous, recognized as a not active pozzolanic material. The results have shown that it is feasible to use new cementitious conglomerates that can produce economical saving and both environment and social advantages, since they can be favorable for some vulnerable socio-economic segments of the society.