Effect of waste glass and curing aging on fracture toughness of self-compacting mortars using ENDB specimen

Abstract

• Fracture toughness parameters were determined for all waste glass self-compacting mortars using ENDB specimen. • WG aggregate (0% to 100%) and curing aging (14, 28 and 56 days) affect the fracture toughness of mortar. • The use of 20% and 40% WG aggregate will increase the fracture toughness and the critical load of mixture. • Increasing the curing age has the greatest effect on the pure mode 3. • The pure mode 3 is the most critical loading mode for mortars containing WG. The use of waste materials in the concrete industry has been a topic of interest for researchers around the world in recent decades. In this research, the fracture toughness (K c ) of edge-notched disc bend (ENDB) specimens of self-compacting mortars containing 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% waste glass aggregates (WG) under the pure mode 1, mixed mode 1/3, mixed mode 3/1, and pure mode 3 in ages of 14, 28 and 56 days have been studied. The results show that the use of 20% and 40% of WG will improve the fracture toughness of the mortars. On the other hand, increasing the curing age from 14 to 28 days, with and without WG, improves the fracture toughness of samples significantly. Increasing the curing age has the highest impact on the results of pure mode 3. In addition, due to the effective fracture toughness results, pure mode 3 is introduced as critical loading condition for self-compacting mortars containing WG.