Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Flexural fatigue strength of demolition aggregates stabilized with

alkali-activated calcium carbide residue
Alireza Mohammadinia a,⇑, Arul Arulrajah a, Itthikorn Phummiphan b, Suksun Horpibulsuk c,⇑,
Mehdi Mirzababaei d
a
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia
b
Singburi Rural Road Office, Department of Rural Roads, Thailand and Graduate Program in Construction and Infrastructure Development, Suranaree University of
Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
c
School of Civil Engineering, and Center of Excellence in Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima
30000, Thailand
d
School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, 120 Spencer Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s

Alkali-activation of demolition materials can provide a sustainable alternative to conventional construction aggregates.

Aluminosilicate gel can improve the serviceability of the stabilized recycled aggregates under repeated loadings.

Combination of fly ash and slag or calcium carbide residue can improve the durability of the stabilized product.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Replacing the base and subbase layers in flexible pavements and sub-ballast layer in railway tracks with
Received 2 October 2018 recycled materials has attracted significant attention from industry and researchers alike. The semi-rigid
Received in revised form 22 November 2018 stabilized layers in the flexible pavement structure and railway tracks sustain high flexural and tension
Accepted 5 December 2018
stresses which reduces the serviceability life of the superstructure. The flexural and compressional mod-
ulus of the stabilized materials under repeated loads and at at-rest k0 condition is highly dependent on
the specifications of the binder. Industrial by-products including calcium carbide residue (CCR), Fly Ash
Keywords:
(FA) and Slag (S) were utilized to improve the compressional resilient modulus, flexural strength, dura-
Calcium carbide residue
Fly ash
bility and fatigue life of recycled aggregates. The variation of ductility in the blend with different precur-
Slag sors indicated that the service life of the stabilized layers not only depended on the strength but was also
Alkali-activation controlled by the deterioration rate of the flexural modulus and stiffness of the sample. The ductility of
Pavement binder with aluminosilicate gels fabric can potentially absorb the stresses of the cyclic loading and post-
Railway tracks pones development of tension cracks.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction extensively by the industry sector. Chemical stabilization has been

The sustainable use of recycled materials in civil engineering
applications has been extensively practiced in recent years [1,2].
To minimize the concerns related to the life cycle durability of
recycled aggregates which has endured crushing loads and poten-
tially contain micro cracks, chemical stabilization has been used
⇑ Corresponding authors at: Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218,
Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia (A. Mohammadinia).
E-mail addresses: amohammadinia@swin.edu.au (A. Mohammadinia),
aarulrajah@swin.edu.au (A. Arulrajah), suksun@g.sut.ac.th (S. Horpibulsuk),
m.mirzababaei@cqu.edu.au (M. Mirzababaei).
found to improve the quality of alternative pavement and rail track
structure materials, such as recycled construction and demolition
(C&D) aggregates for higher-end applications [3,4]. However, the
use of traditional carbon-intensive binders such as Portland
cement and lime diminishes the sustainability and economic justi-
fication for using recycled products [5]. A widespread attention to
recycling both granular waste and fine sludge and by-products
from industrial activities back to construction of transportation
structures [6,7] and ground improvement [8] and injection grout-
ing have been previously attempted with recycled products [9,10].
Alternatively, industrial by-products such as calcium carbide
residue (CCR), fly ash (FA) and slag (S) which are rich in calcium,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.12.031
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
116 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123

Table 1
Geotechnical properties of C&D aggregates.

Geotechnical properties Test standards CB RCA RAP

Fine Content (%) ASTM [29] 7.7 6.0 4.4
Sand Content (%) ASTM [29] 33.8 31.5 29.1
Gravel content (%) ASTM [29] 33.8 62.5 66.5
Coefficient of uniformity (Cu) ASTM [29] 37.9 38.8 12.9
Coefficient of curvature (Cc) ASTM [29] 1.6 1.3 1.9
Particle density – coarse (Mg/m3) AS 1141.6.1 [30] 2.66 2.69 2.63
Particle density – fine (Mg/m3) AS 1141.5.1 [31] 2.62 2.64 2.65
USCSà ASTM D2487 [32] GWy GW GW
Water absorption – coarse (%) AS 1141.6.1 [30] 7.02 6.05 3.47
Water absorption – fine (%) AS 1141.5.1 [31] 10.60 13.60 5.22
Water absorption - average AS 1141.5.1 [31] 9.0 9.7 4.3
Organic content (%) ASTM D 2974-87 1.72 3.07 4.05
pH AS 1289.4.3.1 [33] 10.92 11.85 10.79
Flakiness index BS 812–105.1 [34] 23.3 15.3 10.1
Los Angeles abrasion loss ASTM C131 [35] 34.9 31.1 20.7
Unbound UCS strength (MPa) ASTM [22] 0.34 0.55 0.73
à
Unified Soil Classification System.
y
GW: Well Graded Gravel.

alumina and silica can be used as effective stabilizing materials from stable C-S-H gel products of hydration (from clinker, slag or
without increasing the carbon footprints. In recent years, several calcium source) along with aluminosilicates gel from silica-rich
researchers have demonstrated that to accelerate the gel produc- and alumina-rich sources activated with alkaline solutions [17,18].
tion rate at moderate temperatures using precursors with high Class C FA is widely used as partial cement replacement in con-
content of amorphous and crystal silica and alumina, alkaline solu- struction activities, while Class F FA has limited applications due to
tions can potentially produce a matrix with suitable stiffness and low calcium content. The fine sphere shaped FA particles are col-
ductility, which can perform equally or better than cement stabi- lected downstream of coal-fired electricity power stations that
lized blends [11,12]. are rich in a combination of amorphous and crystalized silica. Slag
Similar to cement stabilization, there are a number of factors and CCR also used as rich sources of calcium to compliment the
which can impact the strength and stiffness of the stabilized sam- reaction products with C-S-H gels. Granulated blast furnace slag
ple which include curing environment, mixing methods, alkaline contains impurities from furnace and iron ore along with high
content and the type of produced gel. The majority of research CaO content. CCR is collected after drying the disposal slurry after
on chemical stabilization focuses on optimizing the blends based acetylene gas production [19]. A combination of sodium silicate
on compressive strength. While the compressive strength is gener- (Na2SiO3) and sodium hydroxide beads (NaOH) diluted to an 8
ally accepted to monitor strength development, it will not measure
the durability of the specimen, particularly under tension or flexu-
ral stresses. Alkali-activated slag-based gel products are predomi-
Table 2
nantly aluminium-substituted C-A-S-H gel that is produced by
Physical specification of binders.
the dissolution of glassy particles in the precursor, which generates
the initial solid phase followed by a dynamic chemical diffusion Specification CCR Slag FA
[13,14]. However, precursors with low-calcium content, produce Diameter at 10% – D10 (mm) 9.16 6.4 7.2
disordered, cross-linked aluminosilicate binder gels with a tetrahe- Diameter at 50% – D50 (mm) 40.2 20.5 35.8
Diameter at 90% – D90 (mm) 72.5 54.6 69.1
dral matrix [15,16]. The alkali-activated blended systems benefit
Mean Diameter (mm) 41.3 20.7 35.0
Specific Gravity*, Gs 2.92 3.15 2.3
Bulk density (Mg/m3) 2.10 0.88 0.90
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 Solubility in water (g/L) N/A8 <1 < 10
100 100
pH (25 °C) y 12.5 12 10
Capping Upper Limit
*
Following ASTM D 5550 [36].
RAP 8
80 80 Substance has a hydrolytic half-life less than 12 h at pH 4, 7 & 9.
CB y
Water/powder ratio 1:1.
RCA
60 Capping Lower Limit 60
% Passing

Table 3
Chemical composition of CCR, FA and S from X-ray fluorescence analysis.

40 40 Chemical Component (wt.%)

CCR Fly ash Slag
AL2O3 2.55 25.56 13.8
20 20 SiO2 6.49 51.11 34.2
CaO 70.78 4.30 43.1
Fe2O3 3.25 12.48 0.4
0 0 K2O 7.93 0.70 0.4
MgO 0.69 1.45 5.4
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Na2O – 0.77 0.1
Particle Size (mm) SO3 0.66 0.24 0.8
LOIa 1.35 0.57 1.8
Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of C&D materials.
 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123 117

Fig. 2. SEM image of the additives a) CCR, b) FA, c) S.

Molar solution was previously recommended for stabilization of
C&D aggregates [19]. A silicate/hydroxide ratio of 2.5 was used in
this research.
Crushed brick (CB), recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) and
reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) form the biggest components
in the construction and demolition (C&D) waste stream. This
research investigates the improvement in compressional and
flexural durability of these C&D materials by means of chemical
stabilization. To benefit from low-calcium and high-calcium
alkali-activated binder products, a combination of alternative by-
product precursors high in calcium, silica and alumina was used
to investigate their impact on the strength and also flexural dura-
bility of the alkali-stabilized geopolymer materials. The chosen
precursors, namely CCR, FA and S are industrial by-products that
are being generated continuously and are also available in abun-
dance in landfills. Using these by-products can provide a sustain-
able solution to reduce the landfill sizes as well as to reduce the
production of Portland cement and consequently reducing the car-
bon emission [20].

Table 4
2. Materials and methods
Strength characterization of CB and RCA after Arulrajah et al. [19].
The C&D aggregates were collected from a recycling company
Blend OMC (%) MDD Average UCS Average MR
(Mg/m3) (MPa) (MPa)
that supplies a vast amount of recycled materials to industries
around Victoria, Australia. The supplied aggregates are classified
CB (Unbound) 11.42 1.993 0.23 205.6
CB + 10% CCR 11.40 1.891 1.22 389.6
as well graded gravel with a maximum aggregate size of 20 mm
CB + 10% FA 10.58 1.930 0.11 142.8 and were further classified for this research. The precursors, CCR,
CB + 10% S 11.55 1.988 5.61 403.9 FA and S were bagged and collected from an acethylene gas pro-
CB + 5% CCR + 5% FA 11.41 1.914 1.61 363.5 duction facility in Victoria, a local power plant in the state of
CB + 5% CCR + 5% S 11.47 1.947 4.25 590.8
Queensland and from a steel production facility in Victoria, respec-
CB + 5% FA + 5% S 11.41 1.973 3.06 678.9
RCA (Unbound) 12.48 1.956 1.02 438.1 tively. To determine the chemical composition and texture of the
RCA + 10% CCR 12.27 1.923 1.08 526.4 precursors, the powders were scanned under a scanning electron
RCA + 10% FA 10.91 1.909 0.43 180.2 microscope (SEM) and were tested using X-ray powder diffraction
RCA + 10% S 12.73 1.953 6.30 579.8 (XRD) method to determine the chemical composition of the pow-
RCA + 5% CCR + 5% FA 11.99 1.915 1.29 359.8
RCA + 5% CCR + 5% S 12.58 1.932 3.37 574.3
ders. The physical characteristics of the precursors such as particle
RCA + 5% FA + 5% S 12.25 1.925 5.07 251.1 size, solubility, density and pH were also determined. A particle
size analyser with accuracy of detection between 0.04 mm and

2.15
Material OMC, % MDD, Mg/m3
RAP : Unbound 6.89 2.058
2.10 RAP : 10% CCR 7.04 2.056
RAP : 10% FA 6.67 2.003
Dry Density (Mg/m3)

2.05 RAP : 10% S 7.57 2.076

RAP : 5% CCR + 5% FA 7.35 1.956

2.00 RAP : 5% CCR + 5% S 7.57 2.058

RAP : 5% FA + 5% S 6.47 2.006

1.95

1.90

1.85
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Moisture Content (%)

Fig. 3. Variation of dry density with moisture content.

118 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123

2500 mm was used to determine the particle size utilizing the wet plement the previous study, RAP aggregates were mixed individu-
dispersion method. pH of the powders was determined in a water/ ally with 10% CCR, FA, and S. In addition, a combination of the
powder solution ratio of 1:1. precursors up to 10% in content was used to prepare stabilized
The results from previous research indicated that a maximum samples. The potential of water absorption of precursors and sen-
10% by dry weight precursor content can provide sufficient uncon- sitivity of the samples to available free moisture in the soil matrix
fined compressive strength (UCS) in the blended mix and hence a during curing was previously demonstrated [5]. Subsequently,
maximum of 10% was retained for additive content [19]. To com- samples were prepared at optimum moisture content (OMC) and
maximum dry density (MDD) obtained at modified compactive
energy recommended by Standards Australia [21]. The compacted
7 7 samples were cured for 7 days in the moisture chamber for the
Average UCS duration of the curing at a moderate temperature (20 ± 2 °C).
6 Secant Modulus 6 UCS test was used to determine the compressive strength of the
Average UCS values (MPa)

specimens [22]. Specimens were prepared in a split mold with an

5 5 internal diameter of 100 mm. In this study, a height/diameter ratio
of 2.0 was maintained for sample preparation. An average between

E50 (MPa)
4 4
three specimens were reported as UCS value to eliminate errors
Min 7-day Strength
3 (TxDOT, 2010)
3 during sample preparation and testing operation. The compres-
Class L sional resilient behavior was determined using a fourth specimen
2 MPa similar to UCS samples under a combination of confinement
2 2
Class M
1.2 MPa applied by air pressure in a triaxial cell and a variety of axial cyclic
1 1 load as advised by AASHTO [23] for repeated load triaxial. The resi-
lient modulus under compression (MR) was determined as the
0 0 average of 5 cycles in each loading stage. The specimens were pre-
RAP + 10% S
RAP - Unbound

RAP + 10% CCR

RAP + 5% CCR + 5% S
RAP + 10% FA

RAP + 5% CCR + 5% FA

RAP + 5% FA + 5% S

pared at OMC and were dried back to 70% of OMC before the test
according to the recommendation of Australian road authority
[24].
The flexural durability of the specimens was determined using
four-point beam test. Four point beam test is used to determine
the ultimate flexural strength (Modulus of rupture) as well as the
Fig. 4. Strength development and stiffness of alkali-activated stabilized RAP after resilient behavior and fatigue life of the specimens under lower
7 days of curing. stress levels near elastic zone. The specimen was prepared in a

1200
Unbound RAP
RAP + 10% CCR
1000 RAP + 10% FA
RAP + 10% S
RAP + 5% CCR + 5% FA
Resilient Modulus, MR

800 RAP + 5% CCR + 5% S

RAP + 5% FA + 5% S
(MPa)

600

400

200

300
Applied Stress

Cyclic Axial Stress

200
(kPa)

Confining Pressure
100
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Stress Stage Number
Fig. 5. Variation of resilient modulus with confining pressure for alkali-activated stabilized RAP after 7 days.
 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123 119

rectangular mold with dimensions of 400 ± 2 mm  100 ± 1 mm  loading and consequently flexural resilient modulus while keeping
100 ± 1 mm at OMC and MDD. The modulus of rupture is a mea- the stresses near elastic region so the sample was not damaged for
sure of ultimate load that stabilized materials can tolerate under the subsequent fatigue test. The stress levels for the fatigue test
pure moment (at the middle 100 mm of the beam) with no shear. was increased to 70% of the peak load and the frequency was
The monotonic loading in the four point beam test was applied increased to 2 Hz, reducing the resting period to 250 ms. At this
based on the recommendations of Standards Australia [25] to the stress level, the material has passed the elastic region into the plas-
point of failure. tic region. The micro-cracks at the bottom of the beam under pure
The flexural modulus and fatigue life of stabilized samples were moment conditions are accumulating plastic strains. The resilient
measured according to recommendations by Yeo [26] on a second deformation measured at the top middle point of the beam is used
similar beam to that used for measuring modulus of rupture. The to measure the flexural resilient modulus. Depending on the rate of
flexural resilient modulus was measured at 40% of peak load on a deterioration of bonding agents, the gradual accumulation of the
haversine-shaped dynamic load with a frequency of 1 Hz for 100 micro-cracks at the bottom of the beam reduces the resilient
cycles. The cycles included 250 ms of loading and 750 ms of rest. strains at the top and consequently reduces the flexural resilient
The first 50 cycles’ measurements were discarded for possible sit- strain. The fatigue life is defined as the number of cycles at which
ting irregularities in the contact point. The average of the last 50 the resilient modulus is reduced to half of the initial modulus at
cycles was reported as the flexural resilient modulus. This test is the beginning of the test.
designed to be short enough at a reasonable stress level compared
to peak load to confidently measure deformations under cyclic 3. Results and discussion

The geotechnical characteristics of the recycled C&D materials

2.4 were evaluated to ensure the compatibility of these materials with
CB recommendations from road authorities. Table 1 presents the
RCA geotechnical properties of the C&D materials. All the three C&D
Modulus of Rupture (MPa)

2 RAP materials have low fine content and are classified as well graded
gravel. The basic pH level of the unbound materials with a water
1.6 to aggregate ratio of 1:1 is between 10 and 11, which can be easily
increased with the addition of an alkaline solution that provides a
1.2 suitable medium for reaction progression. RAP aggregates show
the lowest abrasion which can explain the highest unbound UCS
0.8 value. The particle size distribution of the C&D aggregates is pre-
sented in Fig. 1. The size distribution fits within the boundaries
specified by local road authorities for base and subbase materials
0.4
N/A

as well as boundaries recommended for capping materials for rail-

way construction [27].
0 In addition, the physical and chemical properties of the three
C&D + 10% CCR

C&D + 10% FA

C&D + 10% S

C&D + 5% FA + 5% S
C&D + 5% CCR + 5% S
C&D + 5% CCR + 5% FA

binders are listed in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. CCR and S were

composed of flaky particles with mean diameter of 40.2 mm and
20.5 mm while FA particles are spherical with a mean diameter of
35.8 mm (Fig. 2). The chemical composition of the precursors shows
the high calcium content in both CCR and S while FA shows a high
content of Si and Al.
The strength characterization of alkali-stabilized CB and RCA
Fig. 6. Modulus of rupture for 28-day cured alkali-activated stabilized CB, RCA and was previously studied by Arulrajah et al. [19] and the results
RAP.
are listed in Table 4. A similar study was performed on RAP

Table 5
The modulus of rupture test results of stabilized C&D samples.

Specimen description Moisture content Dry density Peak load (kN) Modulus of rupture Tensile strain at 95%
(% OMC) (% MDD) (MPa) of peak (ms)
CB + 10% CCR 95.4 97.8 0.28 0.08 –
CB + 10% FA 98.8 96.8 N/A – –
CB + 10% S 94.8 99.0 5.65 1.68 101
CB + 5% CCR + 5% FA 96.7 98.2 2.57 0.76 149
CB + 5% CCR + 5% S 94.0 97.4 5.78 1.73 104
CB + 5% FA + 5% S 97.1 97.2 6.40 1.90 131
RCA + 10% CCR 96.1 96.8 0.30 0.09 –
RCA + 10% FA 98.0 97.2 N/A – –
RCA + 10% S 96.8 98.1 6.35 1.90 95
RCA + 5% CCR + 5% FA 97.7 98.6 3.07 0.91 142
RCA + 5% CCR + 5% S 97.5 97.5 6.12 1.83 103
RCA + 5% FA + 5% S 98.7 98.0 7.05 2.10 128
RAP + 10% CCR 95.5 98.7 0.32 0.10 –
RAP + 10% FA 98.2 95.5 N/A – –
RAP + 10% S 96.0 97.8 6.04 1.78 107
RAP + 5% CCR + 5% FA 98.5 99.0 2.86 0.85 158
RAP + 5% CCR + 5% S 97.1 97.6 6.01 1.79 111
RAP + 5% FA + 5% S 98.9 9.8.2 6.85 2.03 139
120 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123

aggregates to determine the compressional behavior of alkali- CB + 5%FA + 5%S

stabilized aggregates before evaluation of flexural strength. There- 14000 a)
fore, the dry density variation with moisture content under modi-

Resilient Modulus, MPa

fied compaction effort for RAP stabilized with different 12000
combination of precursors was illustrated in Fig. 3. This is merely 10000
Initial Modulus, 8784
done to eliminate the potential of aggregates and binder water
8000
absorption and equally provides enough free moisture for reactions
among different blends. 6000
The improvement of UCS and secant Young modulus (E50) for 7- 4000
day cured alkali-stabilized RAP with the suggested combination of Cycles to half initial
2000 Modulus, 7089
precursors is presented in Fig. 4. The secant Young modulus has
similar improvement trend as that of UCS value. Alkali-stabilized 0
slag specimen shows the highest gain in strength compared to sim- 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
ilar blends with other precursors. The overall results presented in No. Cycles
Fig. 4 and Table 4 indicate that the alkali-activated C&D aggregates
RCA + 5%FA + 5%S
can potentially be used as a sub-base material (Class M) and in
some cases in base layer (Class L) construction [27,28]. 14000 b)
Initial Modulus, 12088
Alkali-activated FA specimen (low-calcium system) shows the

Resilient Modulus, MPa

12000
lowest strength improvement due to a number of reasons. FA
10000
shows the lowest pH among the precursors which indicates the
lowest pH in the activation medium among the three precursors. 8000
In addition, shortage of calcium eliminates the chance of creation 6000
of hydration products (C-A-S-H gels). The spherical particles of
FA and low water absorption of its particles reduce the overall 4000
Cycles to half initial
OMC of the blend with FA and consequently reduce the free water 2000 Modulus, 8824
content in the mix which slows down the reaction process. It
0
should be noted that these blends have their highest compactive 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
workability at their OMC and increasing the water content in the No. Cycles
mixture means that the sample should be kept in a mold for a per-
iod of time to set before demolding. Since this approach is not RAP + 5%FA + 5%S
practical in construction activities, the moisture content was kept 14000 c) Initial Modulus, 12772
at the OMC.
Resilient Modulus, MPa

The compressional resilient modulus (MR) of alkali-activated 12000

stabilized RAP samples under a variety of confining stresses and 10000
deviatoric loads are presented in Fig. 5. The 15 stages of loading
8000
commences from low confinement and low axial stresses. A grad-
ual increase in axial stress at constant confinement results in a 6000
higher resilient strain and consequently a higher resilient modulus. 4000
The rate of increase is different between the blends with different Cycles to half initial
2000 Modulus, 9415
stiffnesses. When the confinement increases (after each 3 stage)
there is a sudden drop in the resilient modulus. This is simply a 0
demonstration of the impact of depth through pavement/track 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
structure on resilient strain and consequently resilient modulus. No. Cycles
In other words, the same material at a deeper depth can sustain Fig. 7. Flexural fatigue behavior of stabilized C&D materials with 5%FA + 5%S
a higher axial stress. The average MR for alkali-stabilized CB and precursor under four-point beam loading.

Table 6
Four-point beam test results for stabilized C&D samples.

Specimen description Flexural modulus test8 Flexural fatigue test§

Mean flexural Tensile stress Initial modulus* Tensile stress Tensile strain Stress Strain Cycles to half initial
modulus* (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (ms) ratio ratio modulus
CB + 10% S 10,589 1135 11,113 1529 69 0.91 0.68 253
CB + 5% CCR + 5% FA 7455 602 7809 623 112 0.82 0.75 1280
CB + 5% CCR + 5% S 8046 1410 7857 1644 74 0.95 0.71 144
CB + 5% FA + 5% S 7979 1581 8784 1615 90 0.85 0.69 7089
RCA + 10% S 12,455 1509 14,274 1748 74 0.92 0.78 403
RCA + 5% CCR + 5% FA 8288 698 8499 710 105 0.78 0.74 2471
RCA + 5% CCR + 5% S 10,187 1262 10,571 1592 72 0.87 0.70 251
RCA + 5% FA + 5% S 11,889 1408 12,088 1491 84 0.71 0.66 8824
RAP + 10% S 11,224 1112 11,680 1584 68 0.89 0.64 522
RAP + 5% CCR + 5% FA 7701 709 8005 723 107 0.85 0.68 2745
RAP + 5% CCR + 5% S 9928 1199 9605 1647 77 0.92 0.69 372
RAP + 5% FA + 5% S 12,047 1448 12,772 1502 100 0.74 0.72 9415
8
Flexural modulus test was performed at 40% of peak load from rupture test.
§
Flexural fatigue test was performed at 70% of peak load from rupture test.
*
Average of cycle 51–100.
 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123 121

RCA is also reported in Fig. 4 for comparison purposes. In general,
C&D aggregates stabilized solely with CCR or S have almost similar
MR values. As expected from UCS test results, alkali-activated FA
sample shows the lowest resilient modulus. As mentioned earlier,
the medium pH level of the soil matrix leaves behind a consider-
able amount of inactivated FA particles and compromises the per-
formance of this blend.
Although most of the recommendations and test regimes are
focused on the UCS test to determine the suitability of the geo-
materials for construction activities, the flexural and tensional
forces are generally overlooked. To investigate the performance
of the alkali-activated C&D aggregates under flexural and tension
forces, the four-point beam test was performed at both monotonic
and cyclic loading conditions. The modulus of rupture as calculated
from the maximum peak load before failure under constant load-
ing for all the alkali-activated C&D materials are presented in
Fig. 6. The modulus of rupture varied from 0.08 MPa to 2.10 MPa
(Table 5) while the flexural modulus ranged from 7809 MPa to
14,254 MPa (Table 6). Assuming a shift factor of 0.3, the design
modulus was estimated based on the flexural modulus, which ran-
ged from 4247.5 MPa to 8192.5 MPa. Comparison of blends with S
and blends with FA reveals that the stiffness and deterioration rate
are significantly controlled by the nature of binder matrix.
The range of flexural fatigue life for both high-calcium and low-
calcium system binders are similarly high but the specimens stabi-
lized with S only show a highly brittle behavior as presented in
Fig. 7. The fatigue life and also the rate of deterioration shows
the ductile behaviour of specimens with high C-A-S-H gel. Between
the high-calcium systems, the samples stabilized with S (Fig. 8)
show higher resilient modulus and higher durability under
repeated loads, as compared to the samples stabilized with the
mixture of S and CCR (Fig. 9). This can be related to the existence
of crystalized calcium in CCR, that reduces the hydration rate.
Including FA in the precursors along with S (Fig. 7), produced a
combination of aluminosilicate gel and hydration products, which
increases the flexibility of the samples containing aluminosilicate
gel under repeated loadings. Although, in this case, the overall
strength and resilient modulus of the stabilized materials was
reduced as compared to the blends with higher content of CASH
gel, the fatigue life and durability of these samples was also found

CB + 10%S CB + 5% CCR + 5% S

14000 a) 14000 a)

Resilient Modulus, MPa

12000
Resilient Modulus, MPa

12000
10000 Initial Modulus, 11113 10000
8000 8000
Initial Modulus, 7857
6000 6000
4000 4000
Cycles to half initial Cycles to half initial
2000 Modulus, 253
2000 Modulus, 144

0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 0 200 400 600 800 1000
No. Cycles No. Cycles
b) RCA + 10%S RCA + 5% CCR + 5% S
14000 Initial Modulus, 14274 14000 b)
Resilient Modulus, MPa

12000
Resilient Modulus, MPa

12000
10000 10000 Initial Modulus, 10571

8000 8000
6000 6000
4000 4000
Cycles to half initial Cycles to half initial
2000 Modulus, 403 2000 Modulus, 251

0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 0 200 400 600 800 1000
No. Cycles No. Cycles
RAP + 10%S RAP + 5% CCR + 5% S
14000 c) 14000 c)
Resilient Modulus, MPa

Resilient Modulus, MPa

12000 12000
Initial Modulus, 11680
10000 10000
Initial Modulus, 9605
8000 8000
6000 6000
4000 4000
Cycles to half initial Cycles to half initial
2000 Modulus, 522 2000 Modulus, 372

0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 0 200 400 600 800 1000
No. Cycles No. Cycles

Fig. 8. Flexural fatigue behavior of stabilized C&D materials with 10%S precursor Fig. 9. Flexural fatigue behavior of stabilized C&D materials with 5%CCR + 5%S
under four-point beam loading. precursor under four-point beam loading.
122 A. Mohammadinia et al. / Construction and Building Materials 199 (2019) 115–123
to increase significantly. The fatigue test is highly sensitive to the
applied load. Another influencing factor is the fact that it is
assumed both beams of each slab are identical in terms of com-
paction, moisture content and gradation.
4. Conclusions
Alkali-activation of waste by-products for stabilization of C&D
waste materials targets to improve the strength of marginal and
recycled materials without creating any additional source of car-
bon emission at moderate temperatures. The comparison of stabi-
lization strength results between high-calcium systems (based on
CCR and S precursors) and low calcium system (based on FA pre-
cursor) shows the higher efficiency of high calcium system. On
the other hand, the blended systems (including FA mixed with
either S or CCR) showed very promising results to be used for con-
struction. The blended systems promotes early stage strength
development of C-A-S-H gel from hydration process while preserv-
ing the alkalinity of the medium for progress of activation of FA
particles and creation of aluminosilicate gel for long-term strength
development.
The reduction in OMC of the blend with high FA content can sig-
nificantly compromise the progression of the reaction due to scar-
city of available free water and rapid loss of pH in the blend. C&D
materials stabilized with high-calcium alkali-activated systems
demonstrate a high uniaxial strength and compressional resilient
modulus. Although the flexural resilient modulus of these systems
are high similar to their compressional resilient modulus, the rate
of deterioration of their flexural modulus is notably faster
compared to the blended system that contains some level of
aluminosilicate gel developed in the sample. The high-calcium
alkali-activated samples have a lower fatigue life and their failure
is impulsive which demonstrate a brittle behavior. On the other
hand, despite the flexural resilient modulus of blended systems
are slightly lower than that of high-calcium systems, the deteriora-
tion rate of flexural modulus is very gradual. The longer fatigue life
of these specimens can be utilized for predictable remedial
solutions before failure and increasing the serviceability of the
structure. Blended systems either CCR or S along with FA can
potentially result in significant savings for road construction
projects.
Acknowledgements
This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council
Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Advanced Technolo-
gies in Rail Track Infrastructure (IC170100006) and funded by the
Australian Government. The authors would like to thank Alex Fra-
ser Group for providing the demolition aggregates used in this
research. The third and fourth authors acknowledge the Suranaree
University of Technology, the Office of Higher Education Commis-
sion under NRU project of Thailand and the Thailand Research
Fund under the TRF Senior Research Scholar program Grant No.
RTA5980005.
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest.
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