Fully recycled particulate composite materials with outstanding properties: microstructure and durability

With the aim of reducing the environmental impact of natural aggregates excavation for building conglomerates production and valorising industrial wastes, in this paper sulfur conglomerates (i. e. sulfur polymer matrix composites) were prepared using wastes coming from raw materials treatment for ceramic industry as aggregates. These recycled aggregates are nowadays produced in Italy in big amounts (about 3800 t/month only in a North Italy plant), require large storage space and are currently disposed to landfill, thus negatively impacting both landscape and environment. Therefore, their recycling in new composite materials allow to pursue a reduction of the overall environmental impact, a lower exploitation of quarries and landfill disposal, thus increasing the sustainability of the global production process. Scope of the work was to investigate the microstructure of these materials with relation to their durability. The results are discussed and compared with those obtained by reference samples made with normalized silica sand and ordinary Portland cement.