Utilization of ceramic waste in the production of Khorasan mortar

Abstract

Khorasan mortar was used in almost all of the historical structures in the geographical area of turkey. It is still used in the renovation of these structures. Water, lime, baked clay is used in the production of Khorasan by breaking and grinding. Crushed brick and tiles are preferred as baked clay. In this study, the usability of ceramic wastes as baked clay was investigated. An important part of ceramic production is made especially in Eskişehir and its vicinity. 10% of ceramic production shows up as wastes because of various reasons. These wastes which are under 20 mm are crushed in the jaw breakers and these which are under 150 mm are grinned in grinders, transformed to powder and then mixed with hydrated lime and water in various proportions, in this way Khorasan mortars are obtained. In mortar production, crushed ceramic-ceramic powder ratio, ceramic-lime ratio were changed and the most suitable ratios were tried to be found. Samples taken from these mortars which are 4 cm x 4 cm x 16 cm in size are removed after a day from the mold and kept in humid environment. Physical and mechanical properties such as unit weight, ultrasonic pulse velocity, bending strength, compressive strength of the mortar were determined. As a result of the experiments, the unit weights range was between 1.5–1.65 kg/dm3, the ultrasonic pulse velocity rates range from 1.3–1.9 km/h, the range of bending strengths was from 0.25–1.05 MPa, and compressive strength has changed in the range of 7.5–10.5 MPa. With the work done, it is recommended to use a high percentage of lime while using ceramic wastes in the process of producing Khorasan mortar.