Durability of Mortars Packaged with Production Waste of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

Abstract

The building sector is responsible for the introduction of about 40% of the waste in the environment (60 Mtons per year in Italy), with serious consequences for our future. Therefore, the statistics of the last few years have induced many researchers and many companies to investigate more sustainable products and technologies. Among these strategies, the re-use of waste materials has been widely encouraged. Many solutions have been proposed in the field of mortars for which the use of waste products such as ceramic materials, polystyrene, clay, concrete, has been tried out. The results have often been encouraging, especially for masonry mortars. Nevertheless, very few attempts have been made to place this type of products on the market. Moreover, the "younger" building materials such as Autoclaved Aerated Concrete have not been fully investigated in their potential use as recycled aggregates. The goal of this research was to evaluate the characteristics of mortars packaged with different percentages of production waste of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete components as aggregates, in order to assess the possible use of these conglomerates as masonry mortars or as plasters. The first campaign included tests for determining mechanical resistance, density, capillary water absorption, adherence to substrate, resistance to carbonation. The tested mortars had satisfactory mechanical characteristics and generally exhibited a good capacity to withstand the actions of atmospheric agents. Finally, the results highlighted the direct connection between Autoclaved Aerated Concrete percentage and mechanical and durability properties.

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