Mixture Design and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Mortar and Fully Recycled Aggregate Concrete Incorporated with Fly Ash

Materials (Basel). 2022 Nov 17;15(22):8143. doi: 10.3390/ma15228143.

Abstract

Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is a sort of green, low carbon, environmental protection building material, its application is of great significance to the low carbonization of the construction industry. The performance and strength of RAC are much lower than natural aggregate concrete (NAC), which are the key factors restricting its application. Class F fly ash is a cementitious material that is considered environmentally hazardous. In this paper, appropriate water-binder (w/b) ratios were found through a mortar expansion test at first. The compressive strength of recycled mortar incorporated with class F fly ash was further studied. On this basis, the mechanical properties of nine groups of fully recycled aggregate concrete (FRAC) with a w/b ratio of 0.3, 0.35, and 0.4, and fly ash replacement ratios of 0, 20%, and 40%, were studied. The influence of the w/b ratio and fly ash replacement ratio on mechanical properties was analyzed and compared with previous research results. In addition, the conversion formulas between the splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and compressive strength of FRAC were fitted and established. The research results have a certain guiding significance for the mixture design of FRAC and further application of class F fly ash.

Keywords: fly ash; mechanical properties; mixture proportion method; recycled concrete; recycled mortar.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51808509) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University of Minister of Education of China (IRT_16R67), the Henan science and technology research project (212102310402, 202102310281).