Effect of fine ceramic recycled aggregate (RA) and mixed fine RA on hardened properties of concrete

The ceramic industry is well known for producing large amounts of rejected ceramic waste. During the construction and demolition waste crushing process, a large amount of fine recycled aggregates (FRA) are usually produced. However, little research work has been carried out employing those types of aggregates in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) production. In this research work, mixed and ceramic FRA in partial replacement of 10, 20, 35 and 50% of natural fine aggregates were used in order to verify their applicability in RAC manufacturing. All the concretes were produced to have the same workability. The physical, mechanical and durability properties of the RAC were determined and compared with the results obtained for conventional concrete. The results showed that an increase in the percentages of FRA used in the concrete production led to a decrease in density and an increase in water absorption. The mechanical and durability properties of all the concretes produced with fine ceramic recycled aggregates were similar to those of conventional concrete at 28 days. However, after 1 year, the compressive strength and chloride diffusion of the RAC mixtures produced using fine ceramic recycled aggregates were considerably higher than those of conventional concrete.