Strength, microstructure, and environmental assessment of mortar containing stone waste and admixtures

Abstract

The swiftness in the speed of construction work is the present scenario's need to meet the infrastructure demand due to rise in industrialization and urbanization. Various admixtures are being used to produce mortar/concrete with acceleration in stiffening of cement composites and requisite strength at early age. However, due to industrialization, the generation and dumping of stone wastes in different forms from stone industries has become menace to the ecosystem. To overcome their ill effects, a possible solution can be reuse of these wastes into the construction sector as it can absorb huge waste. This study used stone slurry powder as cement substitution; calcium nitrate and triethanolamine as additives in different proportions individually and in combination to investigate their practicality in cement mortar. The environmental assessment of additives in mortar mixes was also carried out along with the microstructural analysis. Results demonstrated that water cured specimens had higher compressive strength and air cured specimens had higher electrical resistivity values. The stone powder was predominant among all additives in the performance enhancement in terms of strength, chemical resistance and environmental assessment of mortar mixes as compared to other additives.

Keywords

• stone waste
• admixtures
• compressive strength
• electrical resistivity
• micro-structural analysis
• environmental assessment