Investigating the Influence of Waste Basalt Powder on Selected Properties of Cement Paste and Mortar

Abstract

Abstract. Concrete is the most widely used man-made construction material in civil engineering applications. The consumption of cement and thus concrete, increases day by day along with the growth of urbanization and industrialization and due to new developments in construction technologies, population growing, increasing of living standard. Concrete production consumes much energy and large amounts of natural resources. It causes environmental, energy and economic losses. The most important material in concrete production is cement. Cement industry contributes to production of about 7% of all CO 2 generated in the world. Every ton of cement production releases nearly one ton of CO 2 to atmosphere. Thus the concrete and cement industry changes the environment appearance and influences it very much. Therefore, it has become very important for construction industry to focus on minimizing the environmental impact, reducing energy consumption and limiting CO 2 emission. The need to meet these challenges has spurred an interest in the development of a blended Portland cement in which the amount of clinker is reduced and partially replaced with mineral additives -supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Many researchers have studied the possibility of using another mineral powder in mortar and concrete production. The addition of marble dust, basalt powder, granite or limestone powder positively affects some properties of cement mortar and concrete. This paper presents an experimental study on the properties of cement paste and mortar containing basalt powder. The basalt powder is a waste emerged from the preparation of aggregate used in asphalt mixture production. Previous studies have shown that analysed waste used as a fine aggregate replacement, has a beneficial effect on some properties of mortar and concrete, i.e. compressive strength, flexural strength and freeze resistance also. The present study shows the results of the research concerning the modification of cement paste and mortar with basalt powder. The modification consists in that the powder waste was added as partial replacement of cement. Four types of common cement were examined, i.e. CEM I, CEM II/A-S, CEM II/A-V and CEM II/B-V. The percentages of basalt powder in this research are 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% by mass. Results showed that the addition of basalt powder improved the strength of cement mortar. The use of mineral powder as the partial substitution of cement allows the effective management of industrial waste and improves some properties of cement mortar.

A Proposal of a Method for Ready-Mixed Concrete Quality Assessment Based on Statistical-Fuzzy Approach

“…Since the properties of concrete are shaped from the moment of mixing in a process influenced by many factors, assessment of its quality (parameters) can be carried out at different times: during production, during delivery and before/after construction, and importantly, quality assessment can be performed by different participants of the investment process: the producer, the contractor, and the investor. Achieving the desired quality of concrete involves not only conformity assurance, but also appropriate design of concrete mix and selection of suitable ingredients [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], proper manufacturing [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], development of innovative research methods that aid concrete design aimed at obtaining appropriate properties and durability [ 25 , 26 , 27 ] and development of methods for analysing obtained assessment results both during production and in existing constructions [ 28 , 29 ].…”

Preliminary Research on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Alternative Lightweight Aggregates Produced by Alkali-Activation of Waste Powders

“…The extensive use of this material for bituminous mixtures and concretes leads to the production of huge quantities of powder during the preparation of aggregates. Different studies and researches have been done for the recycling and reuse of this waste powder in replacement of raw aggregates for the production of construction materials [ 26 ]. Some researchers have also verified the AA of the basalt powder, with positive outcomes [ 27 ].…”

The Influence of Basalt Minerals as Cement Substitution Materials in Mortar

“…Dobiszewska et al, [7] used basalt powder with different variations as a substitution in materials. It was shown that 8 % of the weight concentration is optimal with respect to compressive and flexural strength.…”