Strength optimization of “tailor-made cement” with limestone filler and blast furnace slag

The use of cements made with portland clinker and two or three additions has grown because they present several advantages over binary cements. Production of composite cements has produced a necessary shift in the manufacture process used in the cement industry. Now, it is known that the separate grinding and mixing technology is more convenient in order to produce these cements, called market-oriented or tailor-made cements. However, their optimum formulations require the help of methods of experimental design to obtain an appropriate performance for a given property with the least experimental effort.In this study, the interaction between limestone filler (LF) and blast-furnace slag (BFS) is analyzed in mortars in which portland cement (PC) was replaced by up to 22% LF and BFS. For this proposition, a two-level factorial design was used permitting to draw the isoresponse curves. Results show that compressive and flexural strength evaluated at 2, 7, 14, 28, 90 and 360 days are affected in different ways by the presence of mineral additions.