Cement Reduction and Strength Development of Conventional Mortars by Utilization of Dried Waste Marble Slurry

Abstract

Industrial waste, especially the mining sector’s waste, has been negatively treating human life and the ecosystem. This experimental work aims to keep the environment safe out of waste, produce high - strength mortars and support the national economy by utilizing dried waste marble slurry (DWMS) collected from the marble shaping industry in Kabul- Afghanistan. Marble slurry was dried and grind to very fine powder shape with 90% partials passing through 0,063mm sieve. Mortars were prepared as a reference and partially cement replacement by DWMS with (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%) by cement weight. The specific surface area of DWMS was 3957 cm2 /gr with a density of 3.12 gr/cm2, while the mentioned parameters for Afghan ordinary Portland cement named (Ghori) was 3051 cm2/gr and 2.997 gr/cm2, respectively. Mortars’ mixes were tested against workability, porosity and water absorption, compressive and flexure strengths. The obtained results indicate that with the use of 15% DWMS dosage instead of cement, the compressive strength gets increased up to 15.5% compared to reference mortars. Also, porosity of the mortars’ specimens gradually decreased. The reduction in the amount of cement for the mortars’ production derive to support the national economy and protect the environment from waste.