Just wondering what is the best way to compare the hydration products of two mortar mix designs one with internally cured (25% SSD lightweight sand) and the other with 100% normal sand (control)? Normally we pour paste samples for XRD and TGA analysis but when I want to look at the improvement in hydration due to internal curing I will have to go for mortar samples. If I grind the mortar samples my main concern was that normal sand is strong and might not grind at the same level as lightweight sand that will present inaccurate proportioning in the powdered XRD and TGA samples.