Study on Properties of Cement Mortar using Recycled Aggregates

Abstract

Aggregate is the main constituents of concrete/mortar. As large amount of aggregate is required for construction, the natural aggregate may not be sufficient in the future. So, attention has to be given to safeguard the natural resources and to recycle the waste materials. This paper investigates the various properties such as setting time, soundness and specific gravity of cement, fineness modulus, specific gravity of aggregates as well as compressive strength and sorptivity of cement mortar in which sand is partially replaced with Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) and Cellular Light-weight Conrete (CLC). Outcomes from this study reveal that the above engineering properties decrease as we increase the percentage of replacement of sand with AAC or CLC. To compensate for this loss, non-ureolytic bacteria has been introduced to the mortar but unfortunately due to various reasons, it has failed to increase the strength. However, the maximum percentage of replacement that can be made before the strength abruptly decreases has been identified.