Strength development and microstructure evaluation of cement mortar incorporating various waste red brick powder

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate the strength development and microstructure of a green mortar produced from waste red brick powder (WRP) as a partial cement replacement. The mortar samples were prepared with various WRP content of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of total binder weight, and the w/b was fixed at 0.4. The fresh properties were checked by flowability and fresh unit weight. While the compressive strength was conducted up to 28 days. The mortar samples exhibited a reduction in flowability and unit weight with increasing WRP content. The incorporation of 10%-20% WRP improved the compressive strength of mortar samples at 28-day, while the compressive strength reduced with higher WRP content (30%-40%). The C-S-H/CaCO3 gel, Ca(OH)2 and ettringite were hydration products of WRP mortar samples. The incorporation with WRP significantly reduced the Ca(OH)2 content