Mechanical and microstructural characteristics of structural concrete containing RCA treated with sodium metasilicate
Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology
ISSN: 1726-0531
Article publication date: 3 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
One of the most contested and anticipated research issues is the acceptability of using recycled aggregates instead of fresh aggregates. This study aims to look at the possibility of replacing fresh aggregates with 15%, 30%, 60% and 100% recycled aggregates.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is divided into two stages. The compressive, split tensile, flexural and bond strength of the various mixes were examined in the first phase using untreated recycled concrete aggregates (RCA). The second phase entails chemically treating RCA with a 10% 0.1 M sodium metasilicate solution to evaluate differences in strength, indicating the success of the treatment performed. Microstructural experiments such as scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were also conducted to evaluate the formation of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) in treated and untreated RCA specimens.
Findings
The observed findings reveal a decrease in concrete strength with increasing RCA concentration; however, when treated RCA was used, the strengths increased significantly when compared to untreated samples. The findings also include curves indicating the correlation between compressive strength and other mechanical strength parameters for an optimum mix of concrete prepared with 30% RCA replacement.
Originality/value
The study through its novel approach, demonstrates the effect of pretreatment of RCA in the absence of any standardized chemical treatment methodology and presents significant potential in minimizing reliance on fresh aggregates used in concrete, lowering building costs and promoting the use of waste materials in construction.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: The authors have not received any funding for carrying out the present work.
Declaration of competing interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in any form for the present manuscript.
Data availability statement: The relevant data and other details concerning the present work can be shared by the corresponding author on reasonable requests.
Citation
Bansal, S., Choudhary, L., Kalra, M., Dave, N. and Sharma, A.K. (2023), "Mechanical and microstructural characteristics of structural concrete containing RCA treated with sodium metasilicate", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-03-2023-0109
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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