Assessing the Performance of Concrete Containing Recycled Glass on Tensile Splitting Strength and Resistance to Alkali Silica Reaction

Using recycled glass in concrete applications decreases the amount of glass in landfills and substitutes for expensive aggregates in the concrete mix. However, there has been a concern on recycled glass with smooth surfaces that would result in a drop in strength and in particular a reduction of an already low ductility. Thus, in many design aspects, the use of recycled glass in concrete is limited up to 30% by weight due to concern on concrete strength reduction. The current manufacturing technology in the recycling glass has been grown and evolved through which recycled glass has been processed to exhibit the following features: basically zero water absorption, excellent hardness (great abrasion resistance), high durability to resist extreme weather conditions, etc. The paper challenges the currently used recycled glass mixtures and presents new mix design principles for concrete mixed with 10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, and 100% recycled glass as replacements of nature sand and Portland cement to assess (1) strength changes and (2) resistance to alkali silica reaction (ASR). Aggregate, water reducer, hydration stabilizer, mid-range water reducer, fiber, and viscosity modifier were prepared with varying dosages of recycled glass. A series of scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging were performed to evaluate the resistance of recycled glass specimens to ASR. The paper concludes that the use of recycled glass as an alternative aggregate and cement binder in the concrete mixtures show promising performance in both tensile splitting strength and ASR