Short-and long-term properties of concretes with secondary raw materials

The paper describes part of the preliminary results of the of the MATERSOS project, funded by the Emilia Romagna Region, Italy. This research project aims at implementing circular economy processes in the constructions industry, through the usage of secondary raw materials. The present paper focuses on structural concrete. After an analysis of locally available waste materials, those with the highest potential as concrete components were identified. Normal and self-compacting concrete mixes containing powder from ceramic tile grinding, shell powder, and construction demolition waste aggregates, were then developed. Ceramic powders were used both as replacement for a fraction of cement and as filler while shell powders were used as filler only. The paper presents the results of various experimental tests that were carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties of these concretes. In particular, their compressive and flexural-tensile strengths, elastic moduli, shrinkage and creep deformations were evaluated and compared with traditional concretes. The results of the experimental tests indicated that the mechanical properties of some of the concretes containing secondary raw materials were comparable to those of traditional concretes suggesting that their adoption in real world applications is possible.