The main purpose of this work is to study the effect of saturated black tea waste and perlite on controlling the rapid heat of hydration in high-strength cement mortars at early ages. Tea waste and perlite were investigated as internal curing agents in different mixes. Mortar specimens with two different sizes of tea waste and perlite particles with 1 and 3% by volume of cement were added in different mixes to find their effect on early age hydration. The rising interior temperature, setting times, and strength parameters were evaluated. Results showed that the mix specimens that contained 3% tea waste and perlite particles significantly delayed the hydration process by minimizing internal temperature and extended setting times of different specimens. However, their usage had a slightly adverse impact on compressive and flexural strengths. It was observed that the specimens made with coarser particles of tea waste and perlite were more helpful to control early age rapid hydration than the specimens made with finer particles, whereas the specimens made with finer particles had slightly higher strengths than the specimens made with coarser particles. Hence, the coarser particles are recommended to be used in high-strength mortars to mitigate the early age rapid heat of hydration.
Keywords: absorption; black tea waste; hydration; setting times; strength; ultrasonic pulse velocity.