Mortar vs Concrete

Concrete is a mixture of water, cement, sand, like mortar, although concrete also has gravel and other coarse aggregates that make it stronger and more durable whereas mortar is a mixture of water, cement, and sand that contains more water to cement ratio than concrete.

When binding materials, fine aggregates, and water are combined together within the appropriate proportions, they form an easily workable paste referred to as a mortar.

When this plastic concrete hardens like a stone, it is referred to as hardened concrete or simply concrete.

In mortar vs concrete preparation, cement and lime are commonly used as high quality mixtures, sand and surkhi as a high-quality mixture, crushed stone and crushed bricks as coarse aggregates.

Difference between mortar and Concrete:

Mortar	Concrete
A good mortar mixture should have the ability to retain sufficient moisture during transport and to lay on a porous bed.	A good cement concrete mixture freezes after a few hours of mixing and gains more strength with age.
The mortar should not contain a large amount of water and it should be equally hard and easy to used.	The amount of water present in the concrete should be in the proper proportion, the excess water content will result in the non-homogenous structure of the concrete.
Mortar is used to provide joints for bricks and stone masonry.	Cement concrete is used to construct roofs, columns, beams, etc.
It is used to plaster walls and specify masonry work.	It is used in casting beams, columns, slabs and other RCC structures.
In a mortar, steel is not used.	Steel is used in concrete.
The mortar has a shorter life than cement concrete.	The life of cement concrete is much longer than mortar.
The thickness of the mortar is low.	The thickness of the concrete is greater than the mortar.

Mortar vs Concrete:

Concrete:

Concrete is a homogeneous mixture of cement, coarse aggregate (crushed stone), fine aggregate (sand) and water.

Portland cement is a commonly used cement for the production of concrete.

Concrete is used to creating various structural elements of a building such as columns, beams, slabs, etc.

Functions of Concrete:

• Concrete is more energy efficient because of the ability of concrete to retain heat.
• Concrete is considered to be naturally water-resistant which makes it suitable to be used to design waterproof barriers to prevent the occurrence of floods.
• The concrete is not affected by the fire.
• Concrete provides structural strength to buildings that make them last longer without wearing them.

Mortar:

Mortar is a cement-like mixture, mostly used to bond bricks or blocks in buildings and walls.

It is applied as a paste that is set to contain bricks or blocks, which are also used to fill small gaps in masonry.

Functions of Mortar: 

• To bind together the bricks or stones properly so as to provide strength to the structure.
• To form a homogenous mass of the structure in order to resist all the masses coming over it without disintegration.
• Also, offer weather resisting i.e. a sturdy layer between the different courses of masonry within the structure.
• To hold coarse aggregate together in any concrete to form a strong mass, the mortar used in concrete is termed because of the matrix.
• To do pointing and plastering the structure, the mortar used for plastering is called plaster.
• It refills empty joints in brick masonry and stone masonry, the mortar used for such purposes is a thin liquid mortar called grout and the method is called grouting.

Also read: Concrete vs. Asphalt & Concrete vs Cement

Conclusion:

Concrete is usually a mixture of cement used as a basic building material while the mortar is similar to concrete, but without the aggregate used as a joint material.