Use of ornamental rock waste as a partial substitute for binder in the production of structural concrete

Abstract

Due to the population increase, to the improvement of life conditions, to the elevation of levels of consumption and the growing industrialization of developing countries, it is estimated that the production of concrete will present significant increase in the next decades. The process of producing cement is responsible for approximately 5 % of the emissions of CO2, an expressive environment pollutant. In this context, this work presents an evaluation of the influence of partial substitution of cement by ornamental rock waste (ORW) on the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. ORW from a local marble and granite processing company was used. The waste was mineralogically characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD) essays, energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis, and physically characterized through laser granulometry and specific mass. For this, was adopted a concrete trace as reference, produced with CP V-ARI cement (similar to ASTM Type III), from IPT dosage. Waste was used in proportions of 5 %, 7.5 %, 10 % and 12.5 % of substitution of cement by mass. Results were treated with ANOVA and multiple comparison of means, indicating a possibility of substitution of until 10% of cement by ORW, creating a concrete with proper resistance to Brazilian regulations regarding the classification as structural.