Durability of cement mortars containing fine demolition wastes as supplementary cementitious materials

Demolition waste; Durability; Fire resistance; Freeze-thaw resistance; Recycled concrete powder; Sulfuric acid corrosion; Sustainability; Thermal activation; Capillary absorption; Cement mortars; Demolition wastes; Drying shrinkages; Recycled concretes; Sulfuric acid corrosions; Supplementary cementitious material; Civil and Structural Engineering; Building and Construction; Materials Science (all)

Abstract :

[en] The study addresses the durability performance of cementitious mortars containing 20 % recycled powders derived from construction and demolition waste, specifically concrete screenings, mixed screenings, and slurries from the washing of recycled aggregates. Uncalcined and thermally activated at 500°C, the powders were evaluated for their potential as supplementary cementitious materials. Key durability parameters analyzed include freeze-thaw resistance, fire resistance and sulfuric acid corrosion resistance, along with capillary absorption and drying shrinkage. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to assess the influences of various factors on the durability properties. The results demonstrate that the type of waste has a significant impact on the durability of mortars, with ceramic-containing specimens exhibiting superior performance in comparison to those comprising pure concrete powders. Capillary absorption emerged as an important factor for resistance to extreme temperatures. Furthermore, the findings of this study demonstrate that thermal activation of waste powders does not enhance the durability parameters, and that drying shrinkage shows no significant impact on durability. This study fills a knowledge gap in the durability of cementitious materials incorporating recycled powders and highlights the potential of ceramic-containing powders in sustainable cement production.

Disciplines :

Materials science & engineering

Author, co-author :

TOKAREVA, Anna ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine > Department of Engineering > Team Joachim HANSEN

Waldmann, Danièle ; Institute for Solid Structures, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

External co-authors :

yes

Language :

English

Title :

Durability of cement mortars containing fine demolition wastes as supplementary cementitious materials

Publication date :

30 May 2025

Journal title :

Construction and Building Materials

ISSN :

0950-0618

eISSN :

1879-0526

Publisher :

Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Volume :

477

Pages :

141316

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0950061825014643?httpAccept=text/xml

Funding text :

We sincerely thank Mr. Marc Seil, Mr. Ed Weyer, Mr. Gilbert Klein and Mr. Mehdi Saeidi from the Solid Constructions Laboratory at the University of Luxembourg for their technical support. We are also very grateful to Mr. Robin Chapelle and Mr. Nicolas-Alexandre Eugene from Tradecowall company (Belgium) for providing the researched materials and Vicat company (France) for providing cement.

Available on ORBilu :

since 10 September 2025

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