Increased development in the field of construction with the use of sand, stones etc. depletes the natural resources and thus resulted in the scarcity of construction materials. Furthermore, generation of waste from several industries such as steel slag, copper slag, blast furnace slag etc. are being dumped in the nearby landfills leading to disposal problems. The scarcity of construction materials necessitated the utilization of suitable alternative materials with equivalent physical and chemical characteristics. This paper investigates the suitability of copper slag (CS) as a substitute to natural fine aggregate (NFA) in the concrete. The concrete mixes are prepared with 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 100% of copper slag at 0.45 w/c ratio. The behaviour of CS in the concrete was assessed by hardened properties such as compression, tension and flexure at 7, 14, 28 and 90 days and durability properties such as water absorption, porosity and chloride ion penetration at 56 days. Results indicate that the replacement of CS beyond 50% affects properties of the concrete; however increased curing improved the properties of the concrete at higher replacement levels. Characterization studies such as XRD and SEM was performed to examine the effect of CS on the properties of the concrete.

Industrialization and urbanization are two major factors that contribute to the scarcity in construction materials furthermore leading to dependency on alternative materials in construction. Consequently, rehabilitation and retrofitting of structures leads to the generation of Construction and Demolition(C&D) waste which is to be effectively reutilized/disposed. Such C&D wastes can be reutilized as coarse aggregates in concrete termed as recycled aggregate concrete to achieve sustainability in construction. Presence of adhered mortar on the surface of recycled aggregates tends to reduce the quality of recycled aggregate concrete. This paper reviews the statistical data on the generation of C&D wastes around the globe and its percentage of reutilization with a comparison on physical characteristics of C&D wastes with natural coarse aggregate in concrete. Comparative studies on the physical characteristics of recycled aggregates performed by various researchers embark with conclusive remarks to specify its limitation on utilization in structural applications due to the presence of adhered mortar on its surface.

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