Mechanical properties of concrete incorporating spent abrasive waste

Abstract

This research presents some results and discusses the possibility of using spent abrasive waste in concrete. The key objective of this research was to determine the characteristic of spent abrasive waste including the spent garnet and spent copper slag, to investigate the appropriate amount of spent abrasive waste as substitution substances for fine aggregates and cement in concrete and in addition to investigate the mechanical properties of concrete incorporating spent abrasive waste. Various tests were carried out to determine the characteristic of materials including strength activity index, density, bulk density, sieve analysis, water absorption, ultrasonic pulse velocity and wet sieve. For mechanical properties, compressive strength, flexural strength and splitting tensile strength were tested. X-ray fluorescence was used to study the chemical composition of the materials. Spent garnet replacement level of 100% revealed the best performance regarding both water absorption of concrete and mechanical properties. In addition, the use of 20% of spent copper slag as cement replacement can produce higher compressive strength at the age of 28 days by 14% compared with control specimens. The results revealed that spent garnet and spent copper slag can be used as cement and fine aggregates replacement in concrete production as the physical and chemical properties were satisfied by the standards.