Recycled ceramic fine aggregate for masonry mortar production

Construction and demolition waste is composed of fragments of ceramic tiles, steel, wood, plaster, glass, concrete and mortar. Reduction and reuse of this waste can minimise the consumption of natural resources and energy in the construction industry. In addition, high population growth followed by a large housing deficit in many countries highlights the need to obtain low-cost and technically viable building materials. Experimental results of the mechanical and physical characterisation of ceramic waste fragments obtained from the renovation of the Construction Materials Laboratory of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are presented. This material was crushed and sieved to produce recycled fine aggregate and the influence of recycled fine aggregate on the production of masonry mortars was investigated. Five levels of sand replacement by ceramic waste were investigated (0, 20, 30, 50 and 100%). The properties of the fresh mortar were mostly influenced by the absorption, shape, texture and density of the recycled fine aggregate. The mixture with 50% sand replacement (by weight) resulted in an increase of 23% and 10% in compressive strength and split tensile strength, respectively.