Effect of Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregate with Ceramic Waste on Mechanical And Durability Properties of Concrete

Abstract

In India, the manufacturing sector produces a large amount of industrial waste every year and this waste generated from industries have continued to increase due to continued exploitation and use of resources . This waste consists of about a million tons of ceramic waste. India accounts for over 6% of total global production. Globally India is ranked 3rd in world in consumption. So similarly waste generation after consumption of these tiles is also of huge amount and is disposed on large area. Due to large scale construction and infrastructure development, natural sand is getting depleted from rivers quite fast. Hence, finding a substitute or an alternate material for fine aggregate is very important. So both problems of dumping of broken ceramic tiles and finding an alternate to fine aggregate can be solved by using ceramic waste powder in concrete. In the present experimental study ceramic waste powder has been used as partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete. Ceramic waste (CW) was used as fine aggregate in the varying ratios of 10, 15 and 25% as the total weight of fine aggregate. In all, 4 mixes, i.e. CM (Control Mix), CW10%, CW15% and CW25% of M25 grade of concrete were prepared. These mixes were tested for workability of fresh concrete, compressive strength, split tensile strength and durability properties like water permeability, rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT) and sulphate attack. It was observed that the workability of fresh concrete was affected on ceramic waste addition and as we increased the content of ceramic waste in concrete , workability deteriorates. Concrete made with ceramic waste powder as fine aggregate showed an increase in compressive strength and split tensile strength at 7 and 28 days up to 25% replacement and 15% replacement of fine aggregate respectively. Durability properties of concrete were investigated. It was concluded that in general, the addition of ceramic waste improved the durability properties of concrete. However, increase in the water penetration depth was observed with an increase in content of ceramic waste. However, the ceramic mix concrete gave better resistance to sulphate attack as compared to control concrete. In case of chloride penetration, ceramic mix concrete performed way better than control concrete as chloride penetration decreased to low level from moderate on replacement of fine aggregate with ceramic by 25% as compared to control concrete. In all, it was concluded that from the strength and durability considerations, 25% of ceramic waste by weight of fine aggregates provides the best performance for the mixes tested under this study.