Designation: C 596 01

Standard Test Method for

Drying Shrinkage of Mortar Containing Hydraulic Cement1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation C 596; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.

1. Scope in length of the test specimen, where the decrease is caused by

1.1 This test method determines the change in length on any factor other than externally applied forces under stated
drying of mortar bars containing hydraulic cement and graded conditions of temperature, relative humidity and evaporation
standard sand. rate in the environment; the term includes the net effect of a
1.2 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as the variety of phenomena tending to bring about both increases and
standard. Values given in parentheses are for information only. decreases in length during the period in which the test
1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the specimens under consideration are stored in the environment
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the and in which a number of processes, including hydration of the
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro- cement, are taking place at a variety of rates.
priate safety and health practices and determine the applica- 3.2 Other terms used in this test method are defined in
bility of regulatory limitations prior to use. (WarningFresh Terminology C 219.
hydraulic cementitious mixtures are caustic and may cause 4. Significance and Use
chemical burns to skin and tissue upon prolonged exposure).2
4.1 This test method establishes a selected set of conditions
2. Referenced Documents of temperature, relative humidity and rate of evaporation of the
2.1 ASTM Standards: environment to which a mortar specimen of stated composition
C 157/C 157M Test Method for Length Change of Hard- shall be subjected for a specified period of time during which
ened Hydraulic Cement Mortar and Concrete3 its change in length is determined and designated drying
C 219 Terminology Relating to Hydraulic Cement4 shrinkage.
C 305 Practice for Mechanical Mixing of Hydraulic Cement 4.2 The drying shrinkage of mortar as determined by this
Pastes and Mortars of Plastic Consistency4 test method has a linear relation to the drying shrinkage of
C 490 Practice for Use of Apparatus for the Determination concrete made with the same cement and exposed to the same
of Length Change of Hardened Cement Paste, Mortar, and drying conditions.6 Hence this test method may be used when
Concrete4 it is desired to develop data on the effect of a hydraulic cement
C 511 Specification for Moist Cabinets, Moist Rooms, and on the drying shrinkage of concrete made with that cement.
Water Storage Tanks Used in the Testing of Hydraulic
5. Apparatus
Cements and Concretes4
C 778 Specification for Standard Sand4 5.1 Weighing Devices and WeightsWeighing devices and
C 1005 Specification for Reference Masses and Devices for weights used in determining the mass of materials for mortar
Determining Mass for Use in the Physical Testing of mixtures shall conform to the requirements of Specification
Hydraulic Cements4 C 1005.
C 1437 Test Method for Flow of Hydraulic Cement Mortar3 5.2 Glass GraduatesGlass graduates of suitable capaci-
E 177 Practice for Use of the Terms Precision and Bias in ties shall conform to the requirements of Practice C 490.
ASTM Test Methods5 5.3 MoldsMolds for test specimens shall provide for 25
by 25 by 285-mm or 1 by 1 by 1114-in. prisms having an
3. Terminology
3.1 The term drying shrinkage is defined as the decrease 6
Data pertaining to the relation of the drying shrinkage of mortar test specimens
and of the drying shrinkage of concrete test specimens as affected by the cement
under specified laboratory test conditions, may be found in RR/120:C-1, available
1
This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee C01 on Cement from ASTM Headquarters; in a report of the California Division of Highways.
and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee C01.31 on Volume Change. Significance of the Test for Contraction of Mortar in Air with Respect to
Current edition approved June 10, 2001. Published September 2001. Originally Performance of Cements in Concrete, Oct. 18, 1961; and in the paper by Mardulier,
published as C 596 67 T. Last previous edition C 596 96e1. F. J., Schneider, A. M., and Stockett, A. L., An Analysis of Drying Shrinkage. Data
2
Section on Safety, Manual of Cement Testing, Annual Book of Standards,Vol for Portland Cement Mortar and Concrete, Journal of Materials, JMLSA, Am. Soc.
04.01. Testing Mats., Vol 2, No. 4, 1967, pp. 829842. A relevant paper by H. T. Arni
3
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 04.02. entitled The Significance of the Correlation Coefficient for Analyzing Engineering
4
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 04.01. Data was published in Materials Research and Standards, MTRSA, Am. Soc.
5
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 14.02. Testing Mats., Vol. 11, No. 5, 1971, pp. 1619.

Copyright ASTM, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959, United States.

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 C 596
effective gage length of 250 mm or 10 in. respectively and shall cured in the mold for 48 h, cure in lime-saturated water for 24
conform to the requirements of Practice C 490. h.
5.4 TrowelThe trowel shall have a straight-edged steel 11.1.3 At the age of 72 h 6 30 min remove the specimens
blade 100 to 150 mm (4 to 6 in.) in length. from water, wipe with damp cloth and immediately obtain a
5.5 TamperThe tamper shall conform to the requirements length comparator reading for each specimen. Then place the
of Test Method C 157/C 157M. specimens in air storage for 25 days. Obtain a length compara-
5.6 Demolding ApparatusThe demolding apparatus shall tor reading for each specimen after 4, 11, 18, and 25 days of air
conform to the requirements of Test Method C 157/C 157M. storage.
5.7 Length ComparatorThe length comparator shall con-
form to the requirements of Practice C 490. 12. Calculation
6. Temperature and Humidity 12.1 Calculate the length change of each specimen at each
age of air drying by subtracting the initial comparator reading,
6.1 LaboratoryThe temperature of the laboratory, dry taken after removal from water storage, from the comparator
materials, and mixing water, and the relative humidity of the reading taken at each age of air drying and express as
air in the laboratory shall conform to the requirements of millionths and as the percent of the effective gage length. Do
Practice C 490. not prefix a shrinkage value with a minus sign.
6.2 Moist Storage FacilityThe temperature and humidity 12.2 Report the average change in unit length, expressed as
of the air in the moist storage facility shall conform to the millionths, and as a percent of the effective gage length of four
requirements of Specification C 511. specimens from the same batch of mortar as the drying
6.3 Drying Room and ControlsThe drying room and shrinkage of the mortar. If any one test specimen is manifestly
controls shall conform to the requirements of Test Method faulty, discard it. If more than one test specimen is discarded,
C 157/C 157M. do not report the results and repeat the test on a new batch of
7. Graded Standard Sand mortar. If more than one batch of mortar has been tested, report
the average result of the individual batches. When the experi-
7.1 The graded standard sand shall conform to Specification
menter is clearly aware that a gross deviation from prescribed
C 778.
experimental procedure has taken place, discard the resultant
8. Number of Test Specimens observation, whether or not it agrees with the rest of the data
8.1 Make at least four test specimens (Note 1). and without recourse to statistical tests for outliers.
NOTE 1Although the number of test specimens may consist of four NOTE 2An approximation of ultimate drying shrinkage of mortar may
specimens from a single batch of mortar, it is preferable that twelve be determined by plotting the shrinkage values as a function of the
specimens be made with four specimens being made from each of three reciprocal of the time. The time includes the moist curing period. An
batches, with each batch being made on a different day. example of the method is given in Fig. 1 where a logarithmic scale is used
for the drying shrinkage values and a reciprocal scale for the total time in
9. Preparation of Molds weeks.
9.1 Prepare the specimen molds as required by Practice 13. Precision and Bias
C 490.
13.1 Precision:
10. Preparation of Test Specimens 13.1.1 The single-laboratory-operator multibatch-day preci-
10.1 Mortar ProportionsA batch of mortar shall consist sion has been found to be 0.0223 (1S%) and the single-operator
of 750 g of cement, 1500 g of graded standard sand, and an multilaboratory-batch-day precision has been found to be 6.6
amount of mixing water sufficient to produce a flow of 110 6 (R1S%) as defined in Practice E 177, therefore 95 % percent of
5 %. The flow shall be determined in conformance with the the time two test results (each the average of four determina-
procedure as described in Test Method C 1437. tions of properly conducted tests) obtained by the same
10.2 Mixing MortarMix the mortar in a mechanical mixer operator on different days should not differ by more than 70
as required by Practice C 305. millionths, and the test results (each the average of four
10.3 Molding of SpecimensMold the specimens as re- determinations of properly conducted tests) obtained by two
quired by Test Method C 157/C 157M. laboratories should not differ by more than 25 % of their mean.
13.1.2 RepeatabilityWhere a test result is the average of
11. Curing, Storage, and Taking Comparator Readings of four specimens from a single batch, the difference between
Test Specimens duplicate results by the same operator should not be considered
11.1 Cure, store, and take comparator readings of the test suspect unless it exceeds 70 millionths. Where a test result is
specimens as required by Test Method C 157/C 157M, except the average of twelve specimens, four specimens being tested
as follows: from each of three batches, the difference between duplicate
11.1.1 Moist cure the specimens in the molds for 24 h6 30 results by the same operator should not be considered suspect
min. If the strength of the specimens is insufficient to allow unless it exceeds 40 millionths.
proper removal from the mold at 24 h, moist cure in the mold 13.1.3 ReproducibilityThe average result of four or
for 48 h 6 30 min. twelve specimens reported by one laboratory should not be
11.1.2 Remove the specimens from the molds and cure in considered suspect unless it differs from that of another
lime-saturated water for 48 h. If the specimens have been moist laboratory by more than 25 % of their mean.

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 C 596

FIG. 1 Ultimate Drying Shrinkage of Mortar

13.2 BiasNo justifiable statement can be made on the bias

of this test method since no reference samples are available.
14. Keywords
14.1 drying shrinkage; hydraulic cement; method; mortar

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