Strength Properties of Sustainable Mortar Containing Waste Steel Slag and Waste Clay Brick: Effect of Temperature.

Md Jihad Miah,Biranchi Panda,Adewumi John Babafemi,Suvash Chandra Paul

doi:10.3390/ma14092113

Abstract

The use of waste streams for the production of sustainable cement-based materials cannot be overemphasized. This study investigates the feasibility of reusing waste steel slag (WSS) and waste clay brick (WCB) as a replacement for natural sand (NS) in mortar. Numerous studies have reported mainly the compressive strength of concrete/mortar, while limited research is available that focuses on the tensile and flexural strength of mortar, and especially the performance at elevated temperature. Hence, this study investigates the tensile and flexural strength of mortar with three different replacement percentages (0, 50 and 100% by volume of NS) of NS by WSS and WCB at normal temperature (without thermal treatment) and after exposure to elevated temperatures (250, 400 and 600 °C). At ambient condition, both tensile and flexural strength were enhanced as the WSS content increased (76 and 68%, respectively, at 100% WSS). In comparison, the strength increased at 50% WCB (25 and 37%, accordingly) and decreased at 100% WCB (23 and 20%, respectively) compared to 100% NS. At elevated temperatures, both the tensile and flexural strength of mortar mixes decreased significantly at 600 °C.

Highlights

Both tensile and flexural strength increased with the increasing percentage of waste steel slag (WSS) (50–76% for tensile and 39–68% for flexural strength), while the strength increased for 50% waste clay brick (WCB) (16–25% for tensile and 18–37% for flexural strength) and decreased for 100% WCB compared to 100% natural sand (NS)
The dry density of the mortar mixes decreased with an increase in thermal load, and the drop was higher at the higher temperature and at 100% WCB
These results agree with the higher mass loss at the highest temperature and higher content of WCB

Summary

Introduction

Over the last few years, a vast amount of research has been conducted on the possibility of using various types of alternative raw materials to replace both cement and natural aggregates in the production of cementitious materials [1,2,3]. This is because of the scarcity and continuous depletion of natural resources. Concrete structures continue to attain their service life and require demolition, thereby generating tons of waste. Replacing natural aggregates with waste is reducing the CO2 footprint

Methods

Results

Conclusion