Three types of lime are commonly used in construction industry.
Fat or Rich Lime High-purity Lime (Rich Lime)
This type of lime contains 4 percent of impurity (impurities) and its main characteristic (feature) is that, it will strongly slack when mixed with water. Then its volume will increase to 6.8 times of its original value. Its mixture with sand in contact with carbon dioxide quickly hardens (for 16 days exposed to air). As a result, Fat (fatty) lime is also called air lime.
Poor Lime Low-purity Lime
This type of lime is made (produced) from limestone, containing 5 to 6 percent of lime. Its impurities are iron oxide (II), ochre soil, silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide. This type of lime is slowly slacked and the product of its mixture with sand is slowly hardened in the air.
Hydraulic Lime
This type of lime is usually made from limestone that has about 5 to 8 percent clay. An important feature of this type of lime is that it hardens slowly away from the air and even under water, it slacks well in reaction with water, and it produces a low-adhesive gel with water. In general, this type of lime can be considered as something between rich lime and cement.