Experimental investigation of the use of crushed clay brick on the properties of sustainable mortar

Abstract

In the world, millions of tons of construction waste are generated annually, due to the boom of this sector, and brick waste is the most prominent. The purpose of the research was to study the properties of the mortar with the partial substitution of fine aggregate by brick residues (BR), using an experimental methodology based on mortar samples in doses of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% with brick residues, which were subjected to mortar tests and masonry tests. The results showed that the mortar sample with the best performance was 10% BR, achieving in the mortar tests an increase with respect to conventional mortar of 1.58% in compressive strength, 3.99% in flexural strength, 15.61% in tensile strength, while in the masonry tests the increase was 12.19% in compressive strength in prisms, 33.20% in bond strength and 3.82% in diagonal compressive strength. It was concluded that the substitution of fine aggregate by BR is feasible up to 10%, achieving an optimum improvement in the mechanical properties of the mortar.

Keywords

• Mortar
• brick waste
• tensile
• flexural
• compressive