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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2023) | Viewed by 7132

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Blas Cantero

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Guest Editor

Department of Construction, School of Engineering, Universidad de Extremadura, Institute for Sustainable Regional Development (INTERRA), 1003 Cáceres, Spain
Interests: alternative binders; recycled aggregate; constructions and demolition waste; mechanical and durability performance; statistical analysis; recycled concrete
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Dr. Jose A. Sainz-Aja

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Guest Editor

LADICIM (Laboratory of Materials Science and Engineering), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Interests: Eco-Efficient Concrete; recycled aggregate concrete; mechanical and durability properties; fatigue behavior; Finite element models; self-compacting concrete
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world. It is a major component of infrastructures and buildings. In recent years, the construction industry has grown considerably. Today, global concrete production has reached 27 billion tonnes and cement production has reached 4.1 billion tonnes.

During the clinker manufacturing process (clinker is the main component of cement), the use of huge kilns is required. These kilns consume large amounts of energy and emit great quantities of CO₂. It is estimated that for every tonne of clinker used in cement production, up to one tonne of CO₂ is emitted to the atmosphere. Several studies cite the cement industry as being responsible for 5–7% of all global CO₂ emissions.

Some of the strategies proposed to reduce pollutant emissions and the consumption of natural resources derived from the production of cement and concrete are to incorporate alternative materials in partial substitution or addition to cement and/or aggregate. These alternative materials could include agroforestry waste, bottom ash, blast furnace slag, glass dust, construction and demolition waste, etc. Using materials such as these, which would otherwise be landfilled, reduces the environmental cost of concrete production.

The aim of this Special Issue is to compile the recent scientific progress on the use of secondary raw materials (both recycled and by-products) in new cementitious matrices and concrete. This Special Issue has a particular interest in experimental studies on hydration/activation processes; reactivity-enhancing pre-treatments; synergies between materials; properties at nano, micro and macro levels; and chemical changes occurring in concrete as a consequence of changes in cement components and aggregate type. While this field of research is constantly growing, innovative studies on the cost–benefit and life-cycle analysis of concrete incorporating this type of material are particularly welcome.

We hope that this Special Issue will become a source of new ideas on the various advances in this field of research.

Dr. Blas Cantero
Dr. Jose A. Sainz-Aja
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

alternative binder
by-products
reactivity
raw materials
construction and building materials
microstructure
recycled aggregates
cement replacement materials
cementitious materials
hydration and activation processes

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1751 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Water Transport and Chemical Attack of Meta-Illite Calcined Clay Blended Cement in High-Performance Concrete

by David O. Nduka, Babatunde J. Olawuyi, Blas Cantero and Belén González-Fonteboa

Materials 2023, 16(22), 7149; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16227149 - 13 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 870

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation causes a rise in the need for infrastructure, which in turn fuels the creation of additional concrete and further increases cement supplies. Activation of illite-based clay mineral and usage in concrete production is one of the sustainable ways to address the cement industry anthropogenic issues. This study evaluates the durability properties of water transport (water absorption, and capillary water absorption), and resistance to aggressive environments (5% solutions of hydrochloric acid, HCl; sodium sulphate, Na₂SO₄; and calcium chloride, CaCl₂) of meta-illite calcined clay (MCC)-based high-performance concrete (HPC). For this purpose, concrete was produced with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% MCC content in partial substitution of CEM II. Results from the water absorption tests indicate an average percentage value of 3.57%, 3.35% and 2.52% for all the observed mixes at 28, 56 and 90 days, respectively, with MCCC-10 HPC having an average best value of 2.23% across the curing ages. On all observed days, the 5 to 15% cement replacements had very close average water sorptivity value of 0.125 ± 0.001 mm/min^0.5 with the control mix (0.113 ± 0.011 mm/min^0.5). The aggressive environments exposure findings of the hardened MCC-based HPC specimens of 10 to 20% recorded an approximately 15% compressive strength loss in HCl, Na₂SO₄ and CaCl₂ solutions over the 90 days of curing. In all, the HPC mixes of 5 to 15% MCC content obtained an average durability performance factor of 89%. As a result, these findings imply that MCC can replace cement in up to 15% of HPC production. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Concrete Chemistry and Sustainability)

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19 pages, 4555 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Durability of Concrete with Partial Replacement of Portland Cement by Incorporating Reactive Magnesium Oxide and Fly Ash

by Lucas Sequeira, Javier Forero, Miguel Bravo, Luís Evangelista and Jorge de Brito

Materials 2023, 16(7), 2670; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16072670 - 27 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1398

Abstract

In this research, the durability performance of sustainable concrete with the incorporation of reactive magnesium oxide (MgO) and fly ash (FA) was evaluated. The partial replacement of cement with these two materials is an appealing solution for the construction sector due to sustainability benefits and shrinkage reduction. The incorporation of FA by partial replacement of cement was carried out at 0%, 15% and 30%. The incorporation of MgO in concrete was carried out at 0%, 5%, 10% and 20%. Two types of MgO were used, one from Australia and another of Spanish origin. These two materials were evaluated in terms of their individual incorporation, and then an evaluation was carried out when the two were simultaneously used. In terms of durability, performance losses between 3% and 95% were obtained in all tests (water absorption by capillarity and immersion, carbonation depth and resistance to chloride penetration). However, over time, the difference in performance relative to the reference concrete tends to decrease due to the slow hydration that characterizes these two alternative materials. It was found that, in most of the tests, no overlapping of the negative effects occurred. In other words, the simultaneous incorporation of MgO and FA caused performance losses lower than the sum of the losses of their individual incorporation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Concrete Chemistry and Sustainability)

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18 pages, 2671 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly Ash: From Waste to Cement Manufacturing Resource

by Cristina Marieta, Alexander Martín-Garin, Iñigo Leon and Ana Guerrero

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2538; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16062538 - 22 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1735

Abstract

This study investigates the possibility of using municipal solid waste incineration fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material to replace part of the clinker in cement. Life cycle assessment has shown that the partial replacement of clinker with blast furnace slag (CEM III) reduces cement’s global warming potential by ~30%, while replacing clinker with fly ash reduces it by up to 55%. When using CEM III as the control binder in cement in which 55 wt% of the clinker was replaced with hydrothermally treated fly ash, the flexural strength decreased by ~60% and the compressive strength by ~65%. When the fly ash was mixed with calcined and vitrified demolition materials, flexural strength decreased by ~30% and compressive strength by ~50%. The hardening of the hydraulic binders fixed the heavy metals in the municipal solid waste incineration fly ash. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Concrete Chemistry and Sustainability)

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Graphical abstract

27 pages, 9764 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon Emission Evaluation of CO₂ Curing in Vibro-Compacted Precast Concrete Made with Recycled Aggregates

by David Suescum-Morales, Enrique Fernández-Ledesma, Ágata González-Caro, Antonio Manuel Merino-Lechuga, José María Fernández-Rodríguez and José Ramón Jiménez

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2436; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16062436 - 18 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1228

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to explore three types of vibro-compacted precast concrete mixtures replacing fine and coarse gravel with a recycled/mixed concrete aggregate (RCA or MCA). The portlandite phase found in RCA and MCA by XRD is a “potential” CO₂ sink. CO₂ curing improved the compressive strength in all the mixtures studied. One tonne of the mixtures studied could be decarbonised after only 7 days of curing 13,604, 36,077 and 24,635 m³ of air using natural aggregates, RCA or MCA, respectively. The compressive strength obtained, XRD, TGA/DTA and carbon emission evaluation showed that curing longer than 7 days in CO₂ was pointless. The total CO₂ emissions by a mixture using CO₂ curing at 7 days were 221.26, 204.38 and 210.05 kg CO₂ eq/m³ air using natural aggregates, RCA or MCA, respectively. The findings of this study provide a valuable contribution to carbon emission evaluation of CO₂ curing in vibro-compacted precast concrete with recycled/mixed concrete aggregates (RCA or MCA). The technology proposed in this research facilitates carbon capture and use and guarantees enhanced compressive strength of the concrete samples. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Concrete Chemistry and Sustainability)

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18 pages, 7240 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Statistical Analysis of the Pouring Method’s Influence on the Distribution of Metallic Macrofibres into Vibrated Concrete

by Laura Gonzalez, Jose Sainz-Aja, Álvaro Gaute Alonso, Jokin Rico, Albert de la Fuente Antequera, Ignacio Segura and Carlos Thomas

Materials 2023, 16(4), 1404; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16041404 - 7 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1211

Abstract

The use of fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) in structural applications is increasing significantly as a result of (1) the acceptance of this composite into design guidelines and (2) the improvement in terms of sustainability performance that has been reported for cases where FRC has been used. In this context, fibre orientation and distribution are factors that govern the post-cracking response of the FRC. Researchers have already dealt with the analysis of both variables from an experimental and numerical perspective, and design-oriented recommendations were included in existing design guidelines (i.e., fib Model Code 2020). Nonetheless, there are still technical aspects to be answered within a research framework before the influence of these variables on the mechanical response of FRC could be covered with sufficient reliability. In this regard, this research is aimed at shedding light on the influence of the mould geometry and concrete pouring/vibration procedures on the fibre orientation and distribution variables as well as on the post-cracking performance of the FRC. An extensive experimental programme aimed at characterising these variables using novel testing techniques (i.e., an inductive non-destructive approach for quantifying fibre amount and orientation and the BCN test for assessing the pre- and post-cracking responses of the FRC) was carried out for this purpose. A relationship has been found between the shape of the formwork and the direction of pouring, along with the direction and distribution of the fibres, both of which proved to have an influence on the residual tensile strength of the concrete. However, it has been confirmed that the first crack resistance depends on the concrete matrix, with the addition of fibres having no relevant influence on that mechanical parameter. The results and conclusions derived from this experimental programme can be extended to FRCs and boundary conditions similar to those established herein. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Concrete Chemistry and Sustainability)

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