ENHANCEMENT OF RECYCLED AGGREGATE CONCRETE PROPERTIES BY A NEW TREATMENT METHOD

Recently, decreasing natural sources of aggregate accompanied by increasing large quantities of construction and demolition waste (CDW) cause challenges for environment and construction industry. A significant solution for this is to recycle CDW as a new aggregate source for concrete. However, using recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in concrete involves various obstacles and controversial issues in controlling the quality of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). This study is an effort to improve the quality of RAC containing 100% coarse RCA by using pozzolanic and sodium silicate solution as new treatment solutions. This study examined performance abilities of RAC after being treated with new treatment solutions and a new mixing procedure. The mechanical properties of RAC were evaluated based on testing of concrete under various conditions. The significant results indicated that sodium silicate combined with pozzolanic materials can improve mechanical properties of RAC containing 100% coarse RCA. At 20% concentration of sodium silicate and silica fume, the compressive strength of RAC could improve up to 36%. Achievements of this approach demonstrated its effectiveness in enhancing the strength of RAC, which is potentially applied to treating RCA for concrete in the future.