Reuse of Industrial Metal Wastes as Partial Replacement of Aggregates in Mortar Production

Sustainable waste management is becoming more and more important in the construction industry due to increasing waste costs as well as environmental effects. As a result of increasing level of wastes and environmental damage, the use of these wastes has become the focus for beneficial construction activities and sustainable industrial applications. This study presents experimental results on the effect of industrial wastes on the performance of cementitious mixtures. The scope of this study, therefore, was to assess the effect of waste aluminium on physical and mechanical properties of cement based mixtures prepared in different compositions. Consistency, bulk density, porosity, absorption, flexural and compressive strength tests were carried out on mixtures produced by using waste aluminium aggregates in different percentages instead of fine aggregate. Results showed that mixtures prepared with 4% aluminium aggregates had the highest water absorption and porosity. With the addition of %1 lathe waste, it was observed that the flexural behavior of mortar was maximum and the optimum percentage for flexural strength was noted. In addition, when mixtures produced with the same percentage of aluminium were compared, the amount of binder played a significant role on both compressive and flexural strength. Results have shown that to incorporate aluminium into mixtures can be a suitable solution for recycling in industrial applications.