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Go to Editorial ManagerThis study evaluates the performance of cement mortar incorporating micro silica (MS) and thermally treated date seed ash (DS) as sustainable partial cement replacements, in line with the demand for improved construction materials that utilize available resources. In the absence of an understanding of the behavior resulting from combining MS and DS within a hybrid replacement system particularly regarding how different blending ratios influence mortar performance and mix integrity. To achieve this, five mixtures were prepared with a total replacement level of 20% including three hybrid blends and were assessed through flowability, compressive strength, sorptivity, dry density, water absorption, and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) tests. Predictive models have also been developed to estimate chloride and sulfate penetration based on physical and non-destructive indicators. The results showed that the hybrid mixture MS15–DS5 demonstrated the most notable enhancement compared to the control mix, achieving a 6% increase in compressive strength a 42% reduction in sorptivity and clear increases in dry density and pulse velocity indicating a more compact internal structure. The MS10–DS10 mixture also exhibited improved behavior, though to a lesser degree. In contrast, increasing the DS content led to performance deterioration, where MS5–DS15 showed reduced strength and higher sorptivity and DS20 presented the weakest response, with an 8% reduction in compressive strength and a 32% increase in sorptivity. The predictive models also demonstrated high accuracy achieving R2 of 0.989 and 0.983 for chloride and sulfate penetration, respectively, supporting their ability to estimate future behavior based on physical properties. These results provide a clearer understanding of how combining MS and DS influences mortar behavior and mix integrity, and they contribute to the development of sustainable cementitious mixtures with improved performance when appropriate replacement levels are selected.
Lightweight foamed concrete (LWFC) is characterized as a light in self-weight, self-compacting, self-levelling, and thermal and sound isolation. But it has low strength and low ductility which leads that the application of (LWFC) in the building construction is limited. The flowability of the fresh mix of (LWFC) was evaluated by flow test. While the hardened properties of (LWFC) include, compressive6 strength, tensile6 splitting6 strength, flexural6 strength, and 6modulus of 6elasticity. This6 study6 focuses6 on the effect of the adding of silica fume and steel fibre on the mechanical properties of (LWFC). Silica fume was added as (5%) and (10%) by the weight of cement and steel fiber (0.2%) and (0.4%) of the total volume of the mix. The density of lightweight foamed concrete was 1800±50kg/ , and cement to sand ratio was (1:1) with water cement ratio (0.28). The results indicated that adding of silica fume6 and steel6 fiber6 have great effect on the mechanical properties and improve them. The addition (10%) of silica fume and (0.4%) by volume of steel fiber was the best ratio that improves the mechanical properties of the lightweight foamed concrete (LWFC). The pozzolanic index of the (5%) and (10%) silica fume was (21.9%) and (74.76%), respectively.