Abstract
The main objective of this study was to evaluate the use of additives in producing foamed concrete blocks, which were made by totally replacing natural sand with civil construction waste (CCW). The concrete blocks were developed in accordance with an experimental design that used the complete factorial statistical method, for which three factors with different levels were considered: cement type (CP-V, CP II-Z, and CP II-F); use of additive (without additive, plasticizer, air entrainment, and superplasticizer) and foam amount (5.7%, 7.7%, and 9.5% of the total mass). The influence of each factor and the interactions between them were assessed on the following response variables: compressive strength, dry and saturated density, air voids, water absorption, and thermal conductivity. The results show that all factors had a significant influence on the variable response. For example, the use of the superplasticizer additive resulted in higher compressive strength, lower density, lower air void, and lower thermal conductivity. Finally, the use of additives had little influence on the response variables in relation to the other factors.
Highlights
Concern about the environment and sustainability has driven industries to research and rethink more sustainable methods with a view to minimizing impacts
The results show that using construction waste (CCW) to substitute natural sand may have influenced the compressive strength, since CCW absorbs more water than natural sand, which causes foam bubbles to coalesce and, increase in size, thereby reducing the homogenous distribution of CCW in the mixture [22,54]
The results show that the best thermal performance was obtained in the specimens made without made without additives
Summary
Concern about the environment and sustainability has driven industries to research and rethink more sustainable methods with a view to minimizing impacts. Portland cement and reducing the environmental impacts caused by the cement industry through a decrease in energy consumption and CO2 emissions [1,2] Another way to minimize environmental impacts (generating excessive waste, littering public roads and streets because of irregular disposal and depleting natural resources) and achieve sustainability is to increase the use of construction civil waste (CCW) in the development of materials for civil construction. This has not yet been widely applied. In Brazil, only, approximately 20% of CCW is reused [3,4,5].
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