Application of waste in concrete manufacturing: How analytical characterization techniques can support the preliminary choice of the most suitable material?

Abstract

The concern about negative impacts resulting from the production of natural aggregates and cement in the production of concrete, as well as the possibility of shortage of these materials, motivates for the search for alternative materials. Among these materials, several studies have evaluated the application of by-products from different industrial sectors for concrete manufacture. However, considering the variety of existing waste, without still having some high added value, it is interesting to evaluate them. Therefore, the evaluation of the potential of these materials requires the application of different techniques for the analysis of several proper-ties that are desirable or required. In this sense, this bibliographic review aimed to discuss about main tech-niques and methodologies that are applied to the identification of the main characteristics that allow its appli-cation as partial replacements of aggregates or cement, in mixtures for concrete manufacture.