Properties of cement mortars with porcelain insulator waste

ABSTRACT

The use of alternative materials to minimize the use of natural resources and also the environmental impacts have been the subject of various researches. Mortars consume large amounts of sand, a raw material that is scarce and not found in urban centers. The sand from electrical insulator waste can be an alternative, since the amount of waste generated is great. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of pastes and mortars in fresh and hardened states when using the waste as replacement of Portland cement and also as natural sand. The materials used were Portland cement CP II F 40, natural river sand, and the waste from porcelain insulator in two fineness: material smaller than 2.4 mm and smaller than 75 μm. The cement was replaced by the porcelain powder (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%) and the natural sand was replaced by different amounts of porcelain waste (0%, 25%, 50%, 100%). Setting times were made in cement pastes and the tests on mortars (water/binder ratio 0.8) were consistency, compressive strength, tensile strength, and air permeability at the ages of 7, 28 and 90 days. The increase of the waste content increased the setting times and diminished the mortar fluidity, but the workability was maintained. The mechanical strength decreased, but each mortar showed a resistance increase with age. In general, the results of replacing cement and sand by the porcelain insulator waste had good results and makes it possible to be used in mortars.

Keywords:
sand; porcelain insulator; mortar; consistency; mechanical properties