Performance evaluation of treated recycled fine aggregate on mortar properties

Abstract

The utilization of Construction and demolition (CDW) of building material has proven to be a sustainable option. However, the inferior properties of CDW limit its utility as construction material, especially the finer portion of demolition waste. Therefore, this research study aims to investigate the influence of Treated recycled fine aggregate (TRFA) on the flow and strength property of mortar over untreated recycled fine aggregate (URFA). Two types of mortar mix with cement-to-aggregate proportions of 1:3 and 1:4 at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacement of River sand by two types of RFA- untreated (URFA) and treated (TRFA) were prepared. Results show that untreated recycled aggregate mortars present poorer behavior, whereas improved results are obtained in the case of treated aggregate mortar which is even better than the reference sample prepared with natural sand. Therefore, the study concluded that there is the possibility of enhancement in the properties of mortar by using TRFA. Further, the finding reveals the valid potential of RFA (after treatment) as a replacement for river sand in mortars.