Strength and water absorption of sustainable concrete produced with recycled basaltic concrete aggregates and powder

Abstract

In this study, the recycled concrete aggregates and powder (RCA and RCP) prepared from basaltic concrete waste were used to replace the natural aggregate (NA) and cement, respectively. The NA (coarse and fine) was replaced by the recycled aggregates with five percentages (0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%). Consequently, the cement was replaced by the RCP with four percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 20%). Cubes with 100 mm edge length were prepared for all tests. The compressive and tensile strengths (fcu and ftu) and water absorption (WA) were investigated for all mixes at different ages. Partial substitution of NA with recycled aggregate reduced the compressive strength with different percentages depending on the type and source of recycled aggregate. After 28 days, the maximum reduction in fcu value was 9.8% and 9.4% for mixtures with coarse RCA and fine RCA (FRCA), respectively. After 56 days, the mixes with 40% FRCA reached almost the same fcu value as the control mix (M0, 99.5%). Consequently, the compressive strengths of the mixes with 10% RCA at 28 and 56 days were 99.3 and 95.2%, respectively, compared to those of M0. The mixes integrated FRCA and RCP showed higher tensile strengths than the M0 at 56 d with a very small reduction at 28 d (max = 3.4%). Moreover, the fcu and ftu values increased for the late test ages, while the WA decreased.