Mechanical characterisation and shrinkage of thermoactivated recycled cement concrete

Abstract

This paper investigates the mechanical and shrinkage behaviour of concrete with recycled cement (RC) thermoactivated from waste cement paste and waste concrete. Overall, compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC), for the same water/binder ratio, the mechanical strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity were not significantly influenced by the incorporation of RC. The elasticity modulus decreased with the addition of RC and the shrinkage tended to increase at high RC content. The incorporation of up to 15% RC allowed the production of workable concrete with identical shrinkage and similar to higher mechanical strength than concrete with only OPC. RC proved to be a very promising more eco-efficient supplementary cementitious material.