Influence of spherical and crushed waste Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) glass on lead (Pb) leaching and mechanical properties of concrete

Abstract

The increased use of crushed waste Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) glass as a construction material has led to conducting this study for identifying the effects of different properties of CRT glass in replacing completely the use of natural coarse aggregates. The chemical and physical properties difference between the natural coarse aggregates and CRT glass could significantly affect the concrete performance. In this paper, it is primarily associated with the lead released and morphology properties (shape, surface texture, size, grading) of two recovered products of waste CRT glass. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the Pb leaching properties and the strength of concretes, where spherical CRT glass (GS) and crushed CRT glass (GC) were used to replace 100% of the natural coarse aggregates. Based on the TCLP test, the results demonstrated that the concrete specimens with GS and GC at the particle size ranges from 19 mm to 4.75 mm have not posed any harmful risk of the release of Pb in the presence of a landfill leachate and acid rain. Besides that, the slump value of concrete mixture increases with the inclusion of GS and GC. However, the concrete with 100% GC showed the highest reduction in compressive strength (27%), while the use of 100% GS in concrete resulted in the highest reduction in splitting tensile strength (36%) and flexural strength (31%).