Influence of metakaolin on the properties of mortar and concrete: A review

Supplementary cementing materials (SCM) have become an integral part of high strength and high performance concrete mix design. These may be naturally occurring materials, industrial wastes, or byproducts or the ones requiring less energy to manufacture. Some of the commonly used supplementary cementing materials are fly ash, silica fume (SF), granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), rice husk ash (RHA) and metakaolin (MK), etc. Metakaolin is obtained by the calcination of kaolinite. It is being used very commonly as pozzolanic material in mortar and concrete, and has exhibited considerable influence in enhancing the mechanical and durability properties of mortar and concrete. This paper presents an overview of the work carried out on the use of MK as partial replacement of cement in mortar and concrete. Properties reported in this paper are the fresh mortar/concrete properties, mechanical and durability properties.