The rising concern for the environment and the need for a sustainable economic model has stimulated experimentation in the field of construction materials, notably in replacing certain components from cementitious materials with construction and demolition waste. The main objective of this study is to replace a significant proportion of natural aggregates with glass waste, in the composition of plastering mortars, and to observe the evolution of physical–mechanical characteristics in the fresh state: apparent density, consistency, and segregation tendency, and in the hardened state: apparent density, flexural strength, compression strength, and adhesion to the substrate, across time, at 3, 7, 14, and 28 days. SEM and EDX tests were also performed to observe the microscopical characteristics. The experimental program studied four types of plastering mortars: the reference mortar—CS IV, and three mortars in which aggregates have been replaced with glass waste in the following proportions, by mass: 15%, 30%, and 45%. Results obtained on fresh properties (apparent density and consistency) indicate a decrease in values as the percentage of glass increases, with the exception of the mortar with 30% aggregated glass replacement. The flexural strength and the compressive strength were improved by replacing 30% of the aggregates with glass waste and were not significantly impacted by a replacement of 15%. Mechanical properties decreased at a replacement level of 45%. All glass aggregate mortars had lower adhesion strength to the brick substrate than the reference mortar by up to 70%. SEM and EDX analyses showed the morphology of the studied mortars and the processes taking place to increase mechanical strength. Further research directions are proposed, including studying the glass particles, the occurrence of alkali–silica reactions, durability, and improvement of adhesion to the substrate, for progressing towards the most viable, locally sourced, waste-containing plastering mortar.

The Plastering mortars, with good antibacterial (in particular Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and antifungal (Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum) properties, were studied by 1D NMR relaxometry and internal humidity measurements. Three recipes based on plastering mortar with variable content (0, 5 and 10 %) of Ag/ZnO nanopowders and with adequate physical characteristics regarding the mechanical strengths (CS IV), good adhesion to the substrate and low water absorption by capillarity (W2) were considered. The distributions of transverse relaxation times T₂ were measured at 2 h after preparation (for mortar pasta) and then for the same samples at 2, 7, and 28 days during the hydration of mineralogical components. The T₂ distributions are characterized by four components associated with hydration water and water in three types of pores of different dimension. The dimension of pores formed during hydration process are strongly dependent on the Ag/ZnO nanopowders content but finally at 28 days the pores distributions, as resulted from the T₂ distributions, looks similar. Finally, the transverse relaxation ratio was linearly correlated to the compressive strength and the hydration behaviour during 132 days measured with a dedicated humidity sensor embedded inside sampled was discussed.

This study aims to investigate the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to characterize mortars containing recycled rubber waste as an eco-innovative material for sustainable construction. The primary objective was to analyze the way rubber granules influence hydration kinetics, microstructural development and pore structure. The innovative mortar formulations incorporated rubber granules, casein, natural hydraulic lime (NHL), and latex. NMR analysis revealed distinct T₂ relaxation time distributions correlated with different pore sizes and water states: shorter T₂ values demonstrate strongly bound water in small pores, while longer T₂ values are associated with loosely bound or free water in larger pores. The formulation with 3.5% NHL and 5% rubber granules exhibited optimal microstructural characteristics. These results reveal that NMR is a valuable, non-destructive tool for monitoring cementitious material evolution and supporting the use of tire-derived waste in eco-innovative mortar designs.