Usage of Porcelain Insulators Wastes in the Preparation of Cement Based Building Units

Abstract

Porcelain electrical insulators manufactured from refractory ceramic materials have to pass stringent tests prior to final acceptance. This causes large amounts of wastes to be available at the plant premises representing a waste of material besides being an environmental threat. In the present work, porcelain wastes were crushed and ground to pass 40 mesh screen and used as partial sand replacement in cement mortar cubes as first step for possible use in concrete works. The effect of particle size and percent addition on water of consistency and setting time of cement paste and flow behavior of mortars and their compressive strength was investigated. The results showed that the substitution of sand by the waste moderately altered most of the properties but helped raising the mechanical strength.