Eco-friendly geopolymer concrete based on metakaolin and ceramics sanitaryware wastes

Abstract

The sanitary ceramics industry generates huge quantities of wastes notwithstanding all the efforts made to improve the manufacturing process. The aim of the present work is to investigate the potential reuse of sanitary ceramics wastes as an aggregate to manufacture metakaolin based geopolymer concrete. The effect of granulometry and added quantity of SCW on the properties of metakaolin based geopolymer matrix was assessed via physical, mechanical and microstructural properties. the results indicate that the developed concretes exhibit higher mechanical performance compared to conventional concretes and to reference geopolymer. It was also shown that the increase in aggregate particle size had a significant influence on the compressive strength as well as the density and porosity. The microstructure in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the recycled ceramic aggregate and the paste was observed to be more compact.