{"id":4823,"date":"2026-07-11T09:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/mortar-flow-table-test-astm-c1437-en-1015-3\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T09:19:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:19:48","slug":"mortar-flow-table-test-astm-c1437-en-1015-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/mortar-flow-table-test-astm-c1437-en-1015-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortar Flow Table Test (ASTM C1437 \/ EN 1015-3): Method &#038; Apparatus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- nleeat --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-guide-meta\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #10243e;background:#f4f7fb;padding:12px 16px;margin:0 0 20px;font-size:14px;color:#3d4c60\">Written by the <strong>NL Scientific Engineering Team<\/strong> &middot; Reviewed by our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/certifications\/\">ISO\/IEC 17025 (SAMM 835) accredited<\/a> calibration laboratory &middot; Last updated <strong>11 July 2026<\/strong><\/div>\n<p>The <strong>mortar flow table test<\/strong> measures the consistence (workability) of fresh mortar \u2014 the standard companion to cement strength testing, ensuring mortars are compared at equivalent workability.<\/p>\n<h2>What the Test Measures<\/h2>\n<p>A truncated cone of mortar is moulded centrally on the flow table, the mould lifted, and the table dropped a fixed height a set number of times. The resulting spread diameter, expressed against the original base, is the flow.<\/p>\n<h2>Apparatus Required<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Flow table (motorised or hand-cranked) with 10 mm drop and rigid mounting \u2014 254 mm top per ASTM C230, 300 mm per EN 1015-3<\/li>\n<li>Conical brass flow mould and tamper<\/li>\n<li>Callipers or measuring scale for spread diameter<\/li>\n<li>Mixer, scraper and timer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Test Procedure<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Wipe the table top clean and damp; centre the mould.<\/li>\n<li>Fill mortar in two layers, tamping each 20 times (ASTM); strike off level.<\/li>\n<li>Lift the mould, then drop the table 25 times in 15 s (ASTM) or 15 times in 15 s (EN).<\/li>\n<li>Measure the spread along four evenly spaced diameters and average.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Calculation &amp; Reporting<\/h2>\n<p>ASTM flow % = (average spread &minus; base diameter) \/ base diameter &times; 100. EN reports the mean spread diameter in mm. State the standard, drop count and mortar age at test.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptance Criteria<\/h2>\n<p>ASTM C109 strength mortars target a flow of 110 &plusmn; 5%. EN 1015-3 classifies plastic mortars around 140&ndash;200 mm spread. Adjust water or admixture dosage \u2014 never tamping effort \u2014 to reach target flow.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Why control mortar flow before strength testing?<\/h3>\n<p>Strength varies strongly with water content. Comparing cements or admixtures at equal flow isolates the material effect from simple water-cement ratio differences.<\/p>\n<h3>What if the mortar sticks to the mould?<\/h3>\n<p>Lightly oil the mould interior and lift vertically within one minute of filling. Torn or sheared cones give unrepresentative spreads \u2014 repeat the determination.<\/p>\n<h2>Recommended Apparatus<\/h2>\n<p>Browse the full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/product-category\/cement-mortar\/\">Cement &#038; Mortar Testing Equipment<\/a> range or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/contact-us\/\">request a quotation<\/a> from our engineers.<\/p>\n<p><!-- nlfaq --><br \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"FAQPage\", \"mainEntity\": [{\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Why control mortar flow before strength testing?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Strength varies strongly with water content. Comparing cements or admixtures at equal flow isolates the material effect from simple water-cement ratio differences.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What if the mortar sticks to the mould?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Lightly oil the mould interior and lift vertically within one minute of filling. Torn or sheared cones give unrepresentative spreads \u2014 repeat the determination.\"}}]}<\/script><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by the NL Scientific Engineering Team &middot; Reviewed by our ISO\/IEC 17025 (SAMM 835) accredited calibration laboratory &middot; Last updated 11 July 2026 The mortar flow table test measures&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[164,180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-cement-mortar-testing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4823"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4836,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions\/4836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}