Drowned lime

Drowned lime is produced when lime is slaked in excessive amounts of water so that the temperature required for effective slaking is not produced. A skin of lime putty seals the surface of the particles and prevents further slaking. 

Wateivbumed lime is partially slaked as a result of having been slaked incorrectly — see drowned lime. 

As a converse of the above, the addition of an excessive volume of relatively cold water to a low reactivity quicklime can result in drowning of the lime. Under such conditions, the surface of the quicklime particles hydrate, but the particles do not disintegrate effectively and relatively little primary nucleation occurs. Indeed, some of the quicklime may fail to slake fully, resulting in unsoundness and grit. 

Regardless of the practices adopted, slaking of most quicklimes results in the formation of grit. This may arise from uncalcined particles of limestone, from discrete impurities (e.g. flint), from water-burning of reactive lime and from drowning of low reactivity lime. 

Lime slaked by drowning, gave the best mortar in 2 cases of tenacity, and in 0 case of hardness. 

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