Brick waste a supplementary cementing material in autoclaved building products

Abstract

Fired-clay products such as bricks, tiles and pavers, are made in large volumes throughout the world and widely used as construction materials. A significant proportion of themend up being a waste material during either their production process or the demolition of buildings. High pressure steam curing or autoclaving is a proven and versatile method for utilising supplementary cementing materials such as fly-ash and blast furnace slag for the manufacture of cement-based building products. In this investigation, autoclaving has been used to treat blends of ordinary Portland cement with different amounts of ground brick waste. Our experimental data demonstrate the viability of this waste to be used by the construction industry as a supplementary cementing material. The paper presents results of salientengineering properties in relation to microstructural characteristics.