An assessment of workability, mechanical and durability properties of high-strength concrete incorporating nano-silica and recycled E-waste materials

Background

Presently, the proper disposal of E-waste is a major challenge for all nations. Portland cement and aggregates continue to play a major role in the construction industry's operations. Meanwhile, natural resources like gravel (aggregates) are becoming scarce. Thus, E-waste is now offering the building industry a chance to replace traditional aggregates. The main goal of the current study is to determine the highest amount of E-waste that may be replaced with 10-mm coarse aggregates with a nano-silica associated ternary blend in M-60 grade high-strength concrete while still maintaining the designed concrete's mechanical, durability, microstructural and workability characteristics.

Results

When compared to normal concrete, concrete with 15% E-waste replacement maintained the design-required compressive, flexural and tensile strength properties. When the E-waste plastic component percentage is considerably high (15–30%), there is a significant decremental performance regarding the mechanical properties and the decremental rate is found to be in the range of 13–23%. Even the microstructure characteristics of concrete validate the mechanical performance of concrete. Nevertheless, the durability characteristics of E-waste incorporated concrete were found to be promising.

Conclusions

The overall outcome of the study recommends 15% as the optimal replacement percentage of E-waste for conventional concrete, and it is recommended to adopt for real-time practices.