In recent years there has been an increasing tendency to recycle the wastes generated by building companies in the construction industry, demolition wastes being the most important in terms of volume. The aim of this work is to study the possibility of using recycled aggregates from construction and demolition wastes in the preparation of precast non-structural concretes. To that purpose, two different percentages (15% and 30%) of natural aggregates were substituted by recycled aggregates in the manufacture of paving blocks and hollow tiles. Dosages used by the company have not been changed by the introduction of recycled aggregate. Precast elements have been tested by means of compressive and flexural strength, water absorption, density, abrasion, and slipping resistance. The results obtained show the possibility of using these wastes at an industrial scale, satisfying the requirements of the Spanish standards for these elements.

The concrete industry is under increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An immediate solution is to minimize the amount of Portland cement used by partially substituting other supplementary cementitious materials. This article presents the results of an experimental campaign on the influence of replacing Portland cement with both calcined and uncalcined diatomites from the filtration of beer and wine in the production of elements made of vibro-pressed pre-cast concrete, such as pipes. Additionally, a natural diatomite is used. The mechanical properties, capillary water absorption, carbonation, and chloride ingress are tested. The results obtained show the possibility of using natural and recycled diatomites on an industrial scale, which can improve even the long term properties of prepared precast concrete.

The surface finish of a concrete element may become an index of its quality, relating the external and internal porosity with the mechanical and durability properties. Few methods are used to determine the surface quality of concrete elements. Mention must be made the Quality Surface Index (QSI) proposes a simplified method to quantify the surface occupied by the pores in relation with the total surface inspected, analyzing groups of pores by their diameter. The method of the CIB W29 (Commission W29 “Concrete Surface Finishings”) proposes an inspection of the concrete element and its visual comparison with some standard templates. Finally, the digital processing of images allows the zones with surface defects to be delimited and quantified according to premises of quality introduced into the control software. These three methods are employed in this work and are applied in three concrete walls situated three meters from the observer (M-1, M-2 and M-3). Following the conversion of the results of the method with ImageJ and QSI, the results suppose differences that go from 0.1 tenths (2%) for M-3 up to 0.3 tenths (8%) for M-1. All values are within the obtained range with CIB W29 templates. This can validate the QSI and digital processing methods and allows a quick verification of the results. With the digital method, it is obtained that 23.5% of the total pores of M-1 have a diameter of less than 10 mm² and 44% of less than 100 mm². For M-2 and M-3 the proportions of pores with a dimension below 10 mm² is of 43.1% and 27.7%, respectively, and that 77.5% and 60.7% are smaller than 100 mm². From all the above it can be highlighted that M-1 is the one with the lowest amount of pores, however the proportion of the largest is greater than for M-2 and M-3. In the case of M-3, although it has a lower proportion of larger pores than M-1, its greater amount means it is the worst in terms of surface finish of the three.

Industrial wastes are often used as aggregate in concrete production to promote a more sustainable construction and to reduce production costs. This article presents the results of an experimental campaign on the influence of replacing natural aggregate with several construction and demolition wastes (C&DW) as recycled aggregate, as well as the use of fly ash and slag, wastes produced in Gas Incinerator Combined Cycle (GICC) thermal power plants, in the mix design of non-structural concrete. Different percentages of natural aggregates were substituted with recycled aggregates either coming from construction and demolition wastes, or from the coarse fraction of the slags from thermic plants in the manufacture of concrete. The mechanical properties, capillary water absorption, density, carbonation, chloride ingress and sulphate resistance have been tested. The results show a decrease in properties when C&DW are used. Fine fraction of slag and fly ash has an important advantage, and can even improve the long term properties of concrete prepared with natural aggregates. Coarse fraction of slag as a recycled aggregate generally improves most of the properties of manufactured concretes.

The objective of the experimental work is to study the mechanical properties in self-compacting concretes (SCC) in which part of the limestone aggregate has been replaced by granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) in different percentages ranging from 0% to 60%. The results show that at early ages the SCC with the largest content in slag tend to have lower compressive strengths due to the poor compacting of the aggregates, although in the long-term their strength increases due to the reactivity of the slag. In fact, at the age of 365 days, the mortars made with the substitution of 50% of cement by ground GBFS reach compressive strength similar to that of the mortar made with 100% of cement. The consumption of calcium hydroxide during the hydration of the GBFS and the formation of hydrated calcium silicate (CSH) improve the mechanical properties of the slag-paste interface. The new compounds formed by the hydration of anhydrous oxides of the GBFS improve the aggregate-paste transition zone. The chemical interaction between the dissolution of the cement pore and the GBFS ends up generating new compounds on its surface. The increasing hydration of the GBFS produces a greater amount of silica gel that polymerises, densifying the matrix and reducing the porosity, which improves the mechanical properties of the concrete and perhaps its durability. The topography of the particles and their interface are analysed with atomic force microscopy techniques to assess the morphology depending on the aggregate used. On the other hand, a study was carried out of the aggregate-paste interface with scanning electronic microscope at different ages. It can be seen that in the contours of the hydrated GBFS particles, a band or ring forms with the new reaction products. The results obtained strengthen the previous conclusions. The new hydrated compounds fill the reaction ring, introducing chemical bonds between the aggregate and the interface, occupying part of the original pores or substituting spaces occupied originally by large portlandite crystals, of lesser mechanical strength and easily leached. For all this, the benefit is twofold. On the one hand, use is made of industrial by-products and, on the other hand, part of the destruction of natural quarries to obtain the necessary raw materials is avoided.

The environmental impact of traditional construction materials has led to increasing interest in developing more sustainable alternatives. This study addresses the development of low-carbon autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) through the complete replacement of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with ground granulated blast furnace slag (BFS), activated with lime and, in some formulations, supplemented with calcium carbide slag (CCS). Five different AAC mixtures were prepared and evaluated in terms of workability, foaming behavior, compressive strength, phase composition, density, thermal conductivity, and life cycle assessment (LCA). The BFS-based mixtures activated with lime exhibited good workability and foaming stability. After pre-curing, the addition of CCS significantly improved the formation of tobermorite during autoclaving. As a result, the BFS–CCS formulations achieved compressive strengths comparable to the reference OPC-based mix while maintaining low densities (420–441 kg/m³) and thermal conductivities in the range of 0.111–0.119 W/(m·K). These results confirm the technical feasibility of producing structural-grade AAC with a lower environmental footprint.