Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Mechanical properties of concrete with recycled aggregate and M sand

M. Surendar a, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi a,⇑, M. Sharaniya a, M.S. Deepak b, T.V. Soundarya b
a
Division of Structural Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, India
b
Civil Engineering, BMS Institute of Technology and Management, Bangalore, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The suitability of replacement of natural aggregate (NA) with recycled aggregate (RA) mainly depend on
Received 30 September 2020 the properties of recycled aggregates. This experimental study provides the mechanical and durability
Received in revised form 18 November 2020 properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) as compared to those of the conventional normal aggre-
Accepted 22 November 2020
gate concrete (NAC). Seven mixes of concrete were casted using normal and recycled coarse aggregate
Available online xxxx
and tested with different RCA replacement percentages of 0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 50% and 75% respec-
tively. The development of cube compressive strength, cylinder split tensile strength at 7 and 28 days
Keywords:
and water absorption are reported. Therefore, with optimal replacement of RA, the mechanical and dura-
Sustainable construction
Recycled coarse aggregate (RCA)
bility properties of concrete mixtures can be improved, reducing the detrimental effects of RA from the
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) environment.
Mechanical properties Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Durability properties Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Materials, Processing & Characterization.

1. Introduction waste concrete as a new construction material which is called

recycled aggregate which can be produced by concrete crusher
A sustainable construction has now become an extraordinary and can be used as a coarse aggregate. Generally recycled aggre-
concern over construction development to the detriment of things gate has certain limitations where it has a proportional mortar
to come of our planet. As the population increases, a proportional which attached to aggregate, it gives a higher porosity and a lower
increase of the consumption of natural resources and energy strength to RAC (recycled aggregate concrete) than the normal
occurs. And the construction industry sector is the one which has concrete. While concrete crushing into smaller particles a large
the greater responsibility in the consumption of natural resources amount of carbon dioxide is absorbed and will reduces the amount
and generation of wastes. The main factor that causes environmen- of CO2 in the atmosphere. Conservation of land fill space, reduces
tal pollution, damage, depletion of natural and mineral resources is the need for new landfills and hence saving more costs. Since recy-
the consumption of high value of raw materials. The disposal of cled aggregates require a more amount of water than natural
waste has become a severe social and environmental problem in aggregate, shrinkage issue could be a problematic to use RAC in
the territory. The possibility of recycling waste from the construc- practically. The use of recycled aggregates from construction and
tion industry is thus an increasing importance. In addition to the demolition wastes is showing prospective application in construc-
environmental benefits in reducing the demand on land for dispos- tion as alternative to natural aggregates. It conserves natural
ing the waste, the recycling of construction and demolition wastes resources and reduces the space required for the landfill disposal.
can also help to conserve natural materials and to reduce the cost The main reasons for increase of volume of demolition concrete
of waste treatment prior to disposal. Therefore, utilization of recy- waste are due to many old buildings, concrete pavements and
cled aggregate is one of the significant efforts in achieving a sus- other structures have overcome their age and limit of use due to
tainable construction. To achieve sustainable construction, using structural deterioration beyond repairs and need to be demolished.
Lija et al. [1,2] conducted studies on replacement of cement with
granite pulver to analyse the mechanical and durability properties
in self-curing and self-compacting concrete mixes. Various studies
on the investigation on the use of recycled aggregate were done
⇑ Corresponding author. [3–18].
E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.896
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials, Processing & Characterization.

Please cite this article as: M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al., Mechanical properties of concrete with recycled aggregate and
M sand, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.896
M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

2. Preparation of recycled concrete aggregate

Recycled aggregates are comprised of crushed, graded inorganic

particles processed from the materials that have been used in the
constructions and demolition debris. These materials are generally
from buildings, roads, bridges etc. Recycled aggregate was col-
lected from an old demolished building and the age of the building
is about 8 years. The concrete debris was collected and all it was
made to undergo all the process of crushing, screening which is
shown in Fig. 1. Then required aggregates of size 12.5–20 mm were
obtained by conducting sieve analysis and water absorption was
found to be 3%. The obtained recycled aggregate is water washed
as shown in Fig. 2 as it reduces the water absorption of aggregate.

3. Materials and its properties

3.1. Cement Fig. 2. Recycled aggregate after water washing.

Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) of Grade 53 conforming to IS:

12269-1987 [19], was used to prepare the mixtures. The physical 4. Mix design
characteristics and mineralogical composition of the OPC were
measured using the procedure prescribed in the IS: 12269-1987 Mix design was made in according with the absolute volume
[19] and IS: 4031-1988 [20], respectively. The fineness by Blaine’s method. M30 grade of concrete is designed by using the guidelines
air permeability as per IS 4031–1988 [20] was 356 m2/kg, the of IS: 10262-2009 [23]. The water-cement ratio were kept constant
specific gravity was 3.1 and the standard consistency was 30%. as 0.45. Seven mixes of concrete were designed and coarse aggre-
gate was replaced partially with different RCA replacement per-
3.2. M-Sand centages of 0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 50% and 75%. The dosage of
superplasticizer was 0.5% of cement used. Table 1 represents the
Manufactured sand (M sand) with fraction passing through mix proportions by weight.
4.75 mm sieve and retained on 600 mm sieve confirming to grada-
tion zone –II according to IS 383:1970 [21] was used as fine aggre-
gate. The fineness modulus of sand used was 3.39 with a specific 5. Casting and curing of concrete specimens
gravity of 2.55.
6 cube specimens of 150 mm  150 mm  150 mm size and 3-
3.3. Coarse aggregate cylinder specimens with different mix proportions with partial
replacement of coarse aggregate with 0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%,
The coarse aggregates are the strongest and least porous com- 50% and 75% of recycled aggregate are casted and cured for
ponents in concrete mixtures. Crushed stones with bulk density 28 days. The following Figs. 3 and 4 shows the casting and curing
1150 kg/m3 were used as the coarse aggregates in this study to of concrete cube specimens.
make the mixtures. The coarse aggregates were tested as per IS:
2386–1963 [22] and found that the specific gravity is 2.67 with
fineness modulus of 6.89. Table 1
Mix proportions by weight.
3.4. Water
Cement(kg/m3) Fine aggregate(kg/m3) Coarse aggregate(kg/m3) w/c

The pH water should be within the limit (6–7). These character- 380 687 1303 158
1 1.95 3.7 0.45
istics should be applicable to both mixing and curing water.

Fig. 1. Screening of recycled aggregate. Fig. 3. Casting of concrete specimen.

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M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

28 days are represented in Fig. 6. The mean value of three tests

were considered. The compressive strength values for the seven
concrete mixes were represented in Table 2. The compressive
strength of RAC is decreased to about 25% and split tensile strength
decreased by 34% on comparison with NAC, when the recycled
aggregates percentage replacement was increased upto 75%. There
compressive and the split tensile strength drastically reduced
when the percentage replacement of recycled aggregates was
increased. A typical split tensile testing is as shown in Fig. 7.
Fig. 8 shows the attained split tensile stresses (Table 3).

Table 2
Compressive Strength at 7 days and 28 days.

Partial replacement of Specimen Average Average

recycled aggregate (%) Compressive compressive
Fig. 4. Curing of concrete specimen. as coarse aggregate strength at 7 days strength at
(N/mm2) 28 days (N/mm2)
6. Experiments and observations 0 A 24.44 36.66
10 B 24.29 36.22
6.1. Compressive strength and split tensile strength 15 C 23.55 35.77
20 D 22.95 34.95
25 E 22.75 34.50
The testing of concrete cubes is shown in Fig. 5. The compres- 50 F 22.36 32.44
sive strength value of the concrete was found at the age of 7 and 75 G 22.25 27.60

Fig. 5. Testing of cube specimen. Fig. 7. Testing of cylinder specimen.

Fig. 6. Variation of 7 days and 28 days compressive strength.

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M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 8. Variation of 28 days split tensile strength.

12 cubes were tested to evaluate acid resistance, 12 cubes for sul-

Table 3 phate resistance tests, 16-cylinder specimens for RCPT.
Split tensile strength at 28 days.
The acid resistance tests were conducted as per the ASTM C267-
Partial replacement of recycled Specimen Average split tensile 2012 [24] for all the different concrete mixes. The prepared cube
aggregate (%)as coarse aggregate strength at 28 days (N/ specimens were of size 100 mm  100 mm  100 mm the initial
mm2)
weight (W1) of the cubes were recorded. Cubes were immersed
0 A 4.12 in 3% dilute sulphuric acid (H2SO4) in order to maintain the pH
10 B 4.07
value in between 3 and 5. After 28 and 240 days of curing from
15 C 4.00
20 D 3.98 the date of immersion in the H2SO4 solution, the cubes were dried
25 E 396 in normal room temperature and the final mass W2 was obtained.
50 F 3.23 Further the concrete cubes were tested for compressive strength.
75 G 2.70 Fig. 11 shows visual appearance of the cubes immersed in acid
after 240 days. The obtained results showing the compressive
strengths and in mases of concrete specimens are provided in
6.2. Water absorption test Table 5.
Similar to the acid resistance tests sulphate resistance tests
The water absorption test results of NAC and RAC specimens are were conducted. Fig. 12 shows visual appearance of the cubes
provided in Table 4. The perviousness the concrete is obtained by immersed in sodium sulphate after 240 days. Sulphate resistance
water absorption tests which is directly associated with the per- of the concrete mixtures was carried out by immersing the cube
meability of the concrete. Based on the results obtained it is specimens in the bath containing the solution of 5% sodium sul-
observed that RAC cube specimens absorb more water than NAC phate (Na2SO4) by volume of water, according to the guidelines
specimens. This excess water absorption is mainly due to the mor- provided in ASTM-C1012 [25]. Visual observations were made on
tar materials that are adhered to the surface of the materials thus change in colour and precipitation of salt during the testing. Com-
the water absorption characteristic of RAC increases while increas- pressive strength and the final mass from the sulphate resistance
ing percentage RA replacement in the concrete mix. Fig. 9 shows tests are provided in Table 6. The results clearly indicate the deple-
the water immersed cube specimens during their 28 days curing tion in the strength and mass as the % RA replacement increases in
period. Graph shown in Fig. 10 illustrates the increase in water both acid and sulphate resistance tests, in other words the concrete
absorption due to the increase in % RA replacement. prepared using RA exhibits poor resistance against acid and sul-
phate attacks.

6.3. Acid resistance and sulphate resistance tests 6.4. Rapid chloride-ion permeability test (RCPT)

Durability of concrete is the capability to resist chemical attack, The rapid chloride permeability was performed according to the
weathering actions, and abrasion by maintaining its core engineer- ASTM C1202-2009 [26] and the arrangement is as shown in Fig. 13.
ing strength properties. A total of 40 specimens were cast, in which Resistance from the infiltration of chloride particles were esti-

Table 4
Water absorption.

Description Partial replacement by RCA (%)

0 10 15 20
Average dry weight of specimen (w1) kg 2.41 2.4 2.41 2.39
Average weight of specimen after immersed in water (w2) kg 2.45 2.46 2.48 2.48
Water absorption (%) 1.65 2.5 2.9 3.76

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M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 9. Curing of concrete cube specimens.

Fig. 10. Water absorption for different mix proportions.

Fig. 11. Cubes immersed in acid after 240 days.

mated by deciding electrical conductance. Concrete cylindrical were sealed with one cell containing 3% of NaCl solution and the
discs of diameter 100 mm and thickness of 50 mm were prepared other end was filled with 0.3% of NaOH solution. A potential differ-
and left for 28 days self-curing. After which, both ends of the disc ence of 60 V was maintained across the two cells and the amount

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M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 5
Acid Resistance by partial replacement of RCA.

Partial replacement by RCA (%) Compressive strength (MPa) Strength loss in percentage (%) Weight loss in percentage (%)
28 days 240 days 28 days 240 days 28 days 240 days
0 29.5 29.4 19.53 19.80 3.32 4.15
5 27.9 27.1 23.46 25.65 4.17 4.17
10 22.8 22.1 37.05 38.98 2.92 2.50
15 20.9 20.3 41.57 43.25 8.30 6.64
20 18.9 17.4 45.92 50.21 7.11 5.86

Fig. 12. Cubes immersed in sodium sulphate after 240 days.

Table 6
Compressive strength loss after sulphate attack by partial replacement of RCA.

Partial replacement by RCA (%) Compressive strength (MPa) Strength loss in percentage (%) Weight loss in percentage (%)
28 days 240 days 28 days 240 days 28 days 240 days
0 27.6 26.6 24.71 27.44 1.66 3.73
5 25.1 24.1 31.14 33.88 2.08 3.75
10 22 21.9 39.26 39.54 3.33 4.58
15 20.6 20.3 42.41 43.25 4.98 6.64
20 18.5 17.8 47.07 49.07 5.86 8.79

Fig. 13. Rapid chloride permeability test arrangement.

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M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 7
RCPT results.

Conventional mix Partial replacement by RCA (%)

0 5 10 15 20
32 mA 37 mA 41 mA 45 mA 47 mA
32 mA 37 mA 42 mA 47 mA 47 mA
32 mA 38 mA 42 mA 48 mA 48 mA
34 mA 39 mA 43 mA 48 mA 48 mA
36 mA 39 mA 43 mA 51 mA 51 mA
36 mA 39 mA 43 mA 52 mA 53 mA
37 mA 40 mA 45 mA 52 mA 56 mA
39 mA 41 mA 45 mA 53 mA 56 mA
41 mA 41 mA 45 mA 54 mA 56 mA
41 mA 42 mA 46 mA 54 mA 55 mA
42 mA 42 mA 46 mA 55 mA 57 mA
43 mA 42 mA 47 mA 56 mA 61 mA
43 mA 42 mA 49 mA 59 mA 63 mA
851.6 Coulombs 902.9 Coulombs 998.7 Coulombs 1174.6 Coulombs 1214.1 Coulombs
Very Low Very Low Very Low Low Low

of charge passed through the specimen was monitored over the Declaration of Competing Interest
duration of 6 h. The amount of chloride penetration was measured
in terms of Coulombs (C). The tests were performed. It is inferred The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
from Table 7 that RCPT readings are very for specimens when RA cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
replacement was by 10% and when the RA replacement increased to influence the work reported in this paper.
to 20% the readings are still high comparing that of NAC specimens.
The more the conductivity more is the possibility of penetration
and easy corrosion. It implies that the conventional mix sample References
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M. Surendar, G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, M. Sharaniya et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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