2.3.4. Water Retention

First, considering the plate in the funnel, the filter paper positioned at the bottom of the plate was moistened. With the aid of a vacuum pump, a suction of 51 mm of mercury was applied to the set, which was weighed, and its mass (mv) recorded. After this procedure, the set was filled with the mortar, thickened with 37 socket strokes, flattened, weighed, and its mass (ma) was recorded.

Thus, with the set filled in the device, a suction of 51 mm of mercury was applied to the set, which was weighed, and its mass (ms) recorded. The entire continuation of the test was guided by the ABNT NM 13277 [29] standard. In addition to the three values (mv, ma, ms) recorded, the total mass of water (mw) and the mass of the anhydrous components (m) were also recorded.
