Comparison of properties of fresh and hardened concrete containing finely ground glass powder, fly ash, or silica fume

Abstract

Waste glass has potential for use in building materials, for example, as an aggregate replacement, a filler in concrete, or a cement replacement. Finely ground glass powder (particle size of less than 38 µm) can be used as a pozzolan material in concrete because of its high reactive silica content. This paper studied the properties of concrete containing finely ground glass powder (approximate particle size, 12 – 15 µm) of admixture Type D following ASTM C494. The fresh concrete’s compressive strength, ability to resist chloride penetration, and free drying shrinkage were evaluated. The experiment showed that using 10% or 20% glass powder reduced the workability of fresh concrete and accelerated its setting time. However, concrete containing 10% finely ground glass powder exhibited greater compressive strength and improved resistance to the penetration of chloride ions than normal concrete and concrete containing fly ash at the same replacement level. Concrete with 10% glass powder also had lower shrinkage than normal concrete and concrete containing fly ash but higher shrinkage than concrete with 10% silica fume.