Dear Colleagues,

With the beginning of the new millennium, the cement and concrete industry has turned towards an eco-sustainable future. Three basic approaches to a sustainable use of concrete have been proposed:

• The reduction of the environmental impact of concrete in terms of CO₂ emissions, energy requirements, and natural raw materials consumptions while maintaining an equal or better performance and service life;
• The use of high-performance mixtures at an equal environmental impact and service life;
• The enhancement of durability of concrete at equal environmental impact and performance in order to extend the service life of buildings and infrastructures.

Among the abovementioned approaches, the reuse of industrial byproducts for the production of sustainable mortars and concretes represents an interesting route not only due to the great availability and variety of waste products but also to the environmental benefits arising from the reduction of the raw material consumption, the CO₂ emissions, and the energy consumption.

Alkali-activated materials (AAS) and calcium sulphoaluminate cements (CSA) seem to be an environmentally friendly alternative to Portland cements, but their success is strictly related with their performance and durability in aggressive environments. In other words, only if the alternative binders are able to demonstrate adequate properties and durability will their intensive use in the construction sector be possible. Similarly, the use of recycled aggregate as natural aggregate replacement will become estabilished only when durability and performances are adequately investigated.

This Special Issue aims to add evidence to the scientific progress achieved in the research of the performance and durability of sustainable cementitious mixtures.

Topics of interest are related to the properties and resistance in aggressive environments of sustainable cementitious mixtures based on:

• Calcium sulphoaluminate cements;
• Alkali-activated materials;
• Geopolymers;
• Artificial aggregates;
• C&D waste aggregates;
• Industrial byproducts.

Dr. Denny Coffetti
Prof. Luigi Coppola
Guest Editors

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