Research Article Cost Optimization of Mortars Containing Different Pigments and Their Freeze-Thaw Resistance Properties SadJk Alper YJldJzel, 1 Gökhan Kaplan, 2 and Ali ULur Öztürk 1 1 Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey 2 Kastamonu Vocational School of Higher Education, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu, Turkey Correspondence should be addressed to Sadık Alper Yıldızel; sadikalper.yildizel@cbu.edu.tr Received 12 October 2015; Accepted 22 December 2015 Academic Editor: Juan J. Del Coz D´ ıaz Copyright © 2016 Sadık Alper Yıldızel et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Nowadays, it is common to use colored concrete or mortar in prefabricated concrete and reinforced concrete construction elements. Within the scope of this study, colored mortars were obtained with the addition of brown, yellow, black, and red pigments into the white cement. ose mixtures are examined for their compressive strength, unit weight, water absorption, and freeze-thaw resistance. Subsequent to comparison of these properties, a cost optimization has been conducted in order to compare pigment costs. e outcomes showed that the pore structure in architectural mortar applications plays an important role in terms of durability. And cost optimization results show that light colored minerals can be used instead of white cements. 1. Introduction Colored concrete is an architectural design element which is produced as a response to the unaesthetic outlook of traditional concrete. White cement and colorants are used in order to obtain colored concrete. However, it offers an aesthetical look, and colored concrete has some physical disadvantages such as efflorescence and low processability [1]. Use of colored concrete in mortar and concrete block, cement-based roofing materials, and precast concrete appli- cations has been increasing recently. Colored concrete appli- cations use pigments for durable color [2]. Hematite (red, orange, and purple), goethite (yellow), lepidocrocite (brown), calcite and dolomite (white), celadonite and malachite (green), quartz (white and translucent), and many others have been used as pigments since the antique ages. On the other hand, litharge (red), massicot (yellow), red lead (orange), and chrome oxide (green) are being used as synthetic pigments [3, 4]. Pigments are powdered material with finer grains com- pared to cement. Pigments used with cement-based compos- ites are sieved using sieve opening number 200. us, it is expected for the mixtures water/pigment ratio to be higher for a specific thickness. Nevertheless, pigment’s size and surface properties also have an impact on the water/pigment ratio. Pigment’s water requirement and dosage are among the important factors predicting its colour durability. Pig- ments also have an impact on the concrete shrinkage [5, 6]. Properties such as setting time, lightfastness, durability, mechanical properties, heat resistance, and soluble salt con- tent gain importance in colored concrete. e cast system and the release agent used are of importance for a successful colored concrete application along with the aforementioned properties [7–11]. Cohesion of the mortar is increased when pigments are used in the mortar mixture [12] therefore reducing filler material ratio used in the mixture [13, 14]. Lee et al. [15], in a study conducted on keyed concrete blocks using iron oxide pigment as colorant, stated that the pigment/cement ratio must be less than 4%. Bruce and Rowe [5] used inorganic pigments as colorant and found that these pigments are 10 times finer than cement. us, they found a decrease in the viscosity and thickness of mortars. Jang et al. obtained colored mortars using white cement, blast-furnace slag and inorganic pigments. Viscosity of the mortar was decreased with the addition of pigments, yet it was improved with the addition of blast-furnace slag. However, addition of blast-furnace slag also alleviated the Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Materials Science and Engineering Volume 2016, Article ID 5346213, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/5346213