Fabrication of Green Bricks Utilizing Sustainable Recycled Fine Aggregates

Abstract

The objective of the present research is fabrication of bricks by the incorporation of recycled fine aggregate obtained from crushing of waste concrete and evaluation of the physical and mechanical properties of bricks. The natural fine aggregate and stone dust were replaced by recycled fine aggregate at a level of 50, 75 and 100 % for fabrication of bricks. Properties like Bulk density, water absorption and compressive strength were evaluated after a period of 28 days of curing and discussed. At 50 % replacement, maximum compressive strength of 6.37 and 7.68 MPa has been observed for natural fine aggregate and stone dust respectively and it is 8.7 and 25.6 % higher than respective controls. The results of compressive strength are encouraging using stone dust as fine aggregate as compared to river sand. Further, it has also been observed that the compressive strength and bulk density of all the bricks fabricated using recycled fine aggregates meets the 28-day target strength as per IS: 1077 and was not less than 5.0 MPa in any case. Keywords: Recycled fine aggregates, molded bricks, compressive strength, stone dust, water absorption, bulk density