Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Influence of mixed recycled aggregate on the physical e mechanical

properties of recycled concrete
César Medina a, *, Wenzhong Zhu b, Torsten Howind b, María Isabel Sánchez de Rojas c,
Moisés Frías c
a
School of Engineering, Department of Construction, UEX-CSIC Partnering Unit, University of Extremadura, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 10071 Cáceres,
Spain
b
School of Engineering, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley campus, Paisley PA1 2BE, United Kingdom
c
“Eduardo Torroja” Institute for Construction Sciences, C/Serrano Galvache 4, 28033 Madrid, Spain

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

Article history: This article discusses the findings of a feasibility study on the partial replacement of natural coarse
Received 29 May 2013 aggregate with a poor quality recycled aggregate from construction and demolition waste in the
Received in revised form manufacture of concrete of 30 MPa strength grade. The mixed recycled aggregate used had a high asphalt
31 December 2013
and floating material content. Workability, density, compressive and tensile strength, water absorption
Accepted 1 January 2014
and sorptivity were studied in a series of concretes containing 25 or 50% of the recycled aggregate with
Available online 21 January 2014
and without floating materials. The results showed that using up to 50% of the recycled aggregate had no
adverse effects on fresh concrete workability. Most of the physical and mechanical properties of hard-
Keywords:
Mixed recycled aggregate
ened concrete (strength, density, sorptivity and water absorption) were observed to decline with rising
Floating particles recycled aggregate replacement ratios and floating particle content. Overall, considering the strength and
Mechanical properties other properties achieved, the concretes containing the mixed recycled aggregates studied were found to
Sorptivity be apt for housing construction. The technical, economic and environmental improvements stemming
Concrete housing applications from the potential replacement of natural coarse aggregate with such recycled construction and de-
molition waste would contributed to the sustainability of the construction industry.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction construction. British standard BS 8500-2 defines two classes of

Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in
the world, a popularity it owes to its mechanical properties, dura-
bility, cost effectiveness and availability. The annual average pro-
duction is about 1 t of concrete per human being in the world
(Marie and Quiasrawi, 2012).
Approximately 110 million tonnes of construction, demolition
and excavation waste (C&DW) are generated in the UK yearly, ac-
counting for over 60% of the country’s total waste (Paine and Dhir,
2010). These wastes include a wide range of materials such as
concrete, asphalt, wood metal, gypsum drywall, and roofing ma-
terials produced during the construction, renovation, or demolition
of structures.
Today’s C&DW management and processing are geared to
lowering the percentage of waste dumped in landfills (Blengini and
Garbarino, 2010) and its conversion to secondary products (Coelho
and de Brito, 2013) suitable for reuse as a raw material in
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 927 25 71 95.
E-mail addresses: cemedmart@yahoo.es, cmedinam@unex.es (C. Medina).
such aggregate: recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), containing
essentially crushed concrete (
95%), and recycled aggregate, stone-
based materials (such as concrete, bricks, roof tiles or asphalt), as
well as organic (including wood, plastic and cardboard) and inor-
ganic (metal and gypsum plaster) matter.
In Europe, much less RCA than RA is generated yearly (Vegas
et al., 2011): in Spain, for instance, an estimated 67% of the total
recycled aggregate is RA (Martínez-Lage et al., 2012).
Extensive research conducted on the physical and mechanical
properties and durability of concrete containing RCA has consis-
tently found that its density and workability are lower than found
in concrete using conventional aggregate (Yang and Kim, 2005;
Yang et al., 2008). For compressive and tensile strength proper-
ties, some authors (Etxeberria et al., 2007; Mefteh et al., 2013) have
observed no significant decline at replacement ratios less than 30%
by RCA, while others, e.g. Yang et al. (2011) and Buyle-Bodin and
Hadjieva-Zaharieva (2002) showed that, even with 100% replace-
ment by RCA, strength remained comparable to the values for
typical conventional concrete. The durability and hence the service
life of such concrete are considered not as good as that of the

0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.01.002
 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225 217

Fig. 1. Mixed recycled aggregate: physical appearance and composition.

conventional concrete (Quan, 2011; Thomas et al., 2013), however,
there are other authors which observed that the recycled concretes
are more durable than those made with natural aggregate
(Richardson et al., 2011).
By contrast, the feasibility and effect of using mixed recycled
aggregate (RA) from C&DW to manufacture concrete has been the
object of much less research, due to the complexity involved in
working with a material of significantly varying composition.
Depending on the source of the waste, the resulting RA contains
impurities (wood, plastic, gypsum, asphalt, etc.) ranging widely in
nature and proportion that have an adverse effect on the behaviour
of fresh and hardened concrete. The previous researches showed
that concrete containing RA exhibits lower density and poorer
physical (workability) and mechanical performance than
conventional concrete. Compressive strength usually declines with
increasing RA replacement ratios, with slides as steep as 30% in
concrete made with 100% RA. The aforementioned authors did not
assess the effect of certain constituents (wood, plastic, etc.) on
recycled concrete behaviour, however.
The possible alternative use of this RA as a material in road bases
and sub-bases is a question of considerable consequence, from both
the environmental (reduction of natural resource quarrying, lower
CO2 emissions and less stockpiling in landfills) and economic
(lower transport and energy costs) standpoints, given the large
volume of aggregate generated, as noted above (Jiménez et al.,
2012; Tabsh and Abdelfatah, 2009).
The research of effect mixed recycled aggregates from C&DW as
aggregate and some constituents (wood, plastic, etc.) on properties

Fig. 2. Procedure for using mixed recycled aggregates.

218 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225

Table 1
Concrete batching.

Concrete Material (kg/m3)

Sand Gravel RAa RAWFb Cement Water SP (w/c)effective (w/c)apparent

RC 953.72 1033.20 e e 323.08 210.00 e 0.65 0.65

RCF-25 948.92 771.00 259.39 e 323.08 219.75 e 0.65 0.68
RCF-50 941.72 510.10 514.84 e 323.08 229.36 e 0.65 0.71
RC-25 948.92 771.00 e 257.69 323.08 219.35 e 0.65 0.68
RC-50 941.72 510.10 e 511.46 323.08 228.57 e 0.65 0.71
RCS 953.72 1033.20 e e 323.08 192.81 1.62 0.60 0.60
RCFS-50 941.72 510.10 514.84 e 323.08 212.17 1.62 0.60 0.71
RCS-50 941.72 510.10 0.00 511.46 323.08 211.38 1.62 0.60 0.71
a
Recycled aggregate with floating particles.
b
Recycled aggregate without floating particles.

of the recycled concretes currently represents a novel approach
worldwide, due both to the scarcity of research (see previous par-
agraphs) and the different limits established in the standards
regulating the reuse of the mixed recycled aggregates.
The present research study explores the viability of using a poor
quality RA as partial replacement of natural coarse aggregate and the
effect of some constituents (wood, plastic, etc.) in concrete mixes of
30 MPa strength grade. The RA used in this study was provided a
construction and demolition waste management plant in Glasgow,
Scotland. Due to the restrictions by the near-city centre location of the
waste management plant, only very limited washing was applied
during the RA crushing and screening processes. As a result, the RA
produced contains high level of floating particles and asphalt content.
This study was attempted to use such an RA (with or without floating
particles) at replacement ratios of 25 and 50% of natural coarse
aggregate in producing suitable concrete mixes for housing applica-
tions. The effects of the RA replacement ratios and the removal of
floating particles on the physical (density, workability and water ab-
sorption coefficient and sorptivity) and mechanical (compressive and
tensile strength) properties of the resulting concrete were studied.
maximum size of 20 mm, while the particle size of the fines
(sand) was under 4 mm. Its chemical composition consisted
primarily of silica and aluminium oxides (67 wt%), with smaller
proportions of other oxides (Fe2O3, Na2O, CaO) and a number of
trace elements. Quartz was the prevalent mineral, although
feldspars and phyllosilicates were also present.
* A standard mixed recycled aggregate (RA) supplied by a C&DW
management and processing plant in Glasgow, Scotland was
used. This RA had a maximum particle size of 20 mm and
exhibited clearly visible compositional heterogeneity and a
morphology that varied depending on the source material (see
Fig. 1). The flow chart in Fig. 2 diagrams the procedure for using
mixed recycled C&DW as coarse aggregate in concrete.
* The Portland 52.5 R cement used was standard BS EN 197-1-
compliant.
* The superplasticiser was a carboxylic ether admixture (BASF
GleniumÒ C315).

2.2. Characterisation of the mixed recycled aggregates

2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
* The natural aggregate used was a crushed siliceous rock origin
for both the coarse and fine fractions. The coarse fraction
(gravel) had an irregular morphology, sharp edges and a
The RA was characterised by classifying its components (con-
crete, ceramics, asphalt) as specified in British and European
standard BS EN 933-11. Its chemical and mineralogical composi-
tions were also determined, along with its physical particle size
distribution, density and water absorption (BS EN 1097-6) and
mechanical (crushing value (BS 812-110)) properties.

Fig. 3. Particle size distribution curves for the aggregates used.

 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225 219

Table 2 2.5. Chemical and microstructural characterisation

Mixed recycled aggregate constituents.

Type of materials in the RA Amount (wt %)
Concrete, concrete products, mortar (Rc) 45.64
Unbound aggregate, natural stone (Ru) 28.06
Ceramic material (Rb) 5.30
Asphalt (Ra) 19.33
Other (X) and glass (Rg) 1.66
Floating materials (FL)a 5.05a
a
y volume (cm3/kg).
2.3. Concrete design
The following concrete mixes were studied for the present
study: a reference concrete (RC), two recycled concretes, one with
25% and the other 50% mixed recycled aggregate (RCF-25 and RCF-
50) with floating particles and two recycled concretes with 25 or
50% RA without floating particles (RC-25 and RC-50). In addition,
RC, RCF-50 and RC-50 concretes with 0.5% superplasticiser (RCS,
RCFS-50 and RCS-50) and a lower w/c ratio were also studied.
The concretes were proportioned as specified in the DOE British
Method (Teychenné et al., 2010) to obtain a characteristic strength
of 30 MPa with a w/c ratio of 0.60 and 0.65 for concretes with and
without superplasticiser, respectively.
The amount of mixing water added was adjusted to the water
absorption of the aggregates in each concrete. The total water e
cement ratio (Fonseca et al., 2011) is referred to here as the
apparent w/c ratio [(w/c)apparent], and the ratio of the amount of
water used in the hydration process to the amount of cement as the
effective water/cement ratio [(w/c)effective].
The mix proportions and particle size distribution curves for the
aggregate in each concrete mix are given in Table 1 and Fig. 3,
respectively.
The concretes prepared conformed to the minimum cement
content and maximum w/c ratio values specified in Table A.14 in
British standard BS 8500-1 for concrete to be used in housing
construction and other applications.
2.4. Physical and mechanical characterisation of fresh and
hardened concrete
Standard Chemical compositions were studied on a Bruker S8 TIGER
deviation wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescent spectrometer, using
1.919 QUANT EXPRESS standardless calibration (SEPECTRAPlus package)
3.278 software.
0.627 The composition of the natural and mixed recycled aggregate
2.977
mineralogical was analysed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) on a
0.068
0.614 BRUKER ThetaeTheta D8 Advance 2.2-kW Cu anode, non-
monochromator spectrometer.
BSEeEDX studies of the microstructure were conducted for spot
chemical analysis using a HITACHI model S-4800 scanning electron
microscope with tungsten source energy-dispersive X-rays and a
silicon detector. The samples were epoxy coated and precision
sawed and their flat surfaces were carefully polished for back-
scattering electron (BSE) microscopic analysis, which was con-
ducted to identify their microstructure.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mixed recycled aggregate
3.1.1. Compositional characterisation
The compositional results presented in Table 2 show that the
recycled aggregate (RA) contained 46 wt% concrete waste (Rc),
28 wt% unbound aggregate (Ru), 19 wt% asphalt, 5 wt% clay-based
material (such as blocks, roof tiles and sanitary ware), 2 wt%
other materials and 5 cm3/kg floating particles.
The RA studied conformed to British standard BS 8500-2 and BS
EN 12620 provisions on the percentage of clay-based material
allowed in aggregates for recycled concrete manufacture. The
proportion of asphalt (Ra) and other materials (Xþ glass
(Rg) þfloating particles), however, exceeded the 10 and 1% limits,
respectively, established in those standards.
The percentage of asphalt (Ra) was also higher than specified in
German standard DIN 4226-100 (1%), Portuguese Laboratório
Nacional de Engenharia Civil code E-471 (5%) and European
Committee for Standardization CEN/TC draft standard 104/SC (5%)
for this type of recycled aggregate. The amount of X þ Rg also
exceeded the limit laid down in Portuguese standard E-471 (0.5%)
but was lower than 2% established in CEN/TC 104/SC. The floating

The slump test was used to determine the consistency of the Table 4
fresh concretes as recommended in British and European standard Chemical composition of aggregates.
BS EN 12350-2. Element (wt%) Sand Gravel C&DW
The compressive and tensile splitting strength, density, total
SiO2 66.49 51.26 54.37
water absorption and sorptivity were studied in the hardened Al2O3 14.76 16.36 12.90
concretes using methods described in the respective codes and Na2O 5.13 6.47 2.78
standards (BS EN 12390-3). K2O 3.64 2.96 1.68
Sixty three 100 mm3 specimens (nine specimens/concrete type) Fe2O3 2.42 8.25 8.28
CaO 1.88 4.57 7.94
were prepared, 42 specimens to assess compressive strength and
MgO 0.81 2.39 4.07
the others to determine water absorption. In addition, twenty-one TiO2 0.36 1.30 1.44
10  20 cm cylindrical specimens (three/type of concrete) were SO3 0.14 0.00 0.24
moulded to determine tensile splitting strength. P2O5 0.13 0.44 0.28
MnO 0.07 0.19 0.15
BaO 0.39 0.09 0.09
Table 3 Sra 324.62 489.84 345.85
Physical and mechanical properties of the aggregates studied. Zra 154.49 301.76 166.96
Cea e 639.24 e
Property Aggregate type Cla e 441.75 563.82
Rba e 191.41 179.57
Sand Gravel RA RAWF
Zna e 172.61 130.52
Maximum size (mm) 4 20 20 20 Cua e 0.00 0.00
Particle density on a saturated 2.62 2.66 2.54 2.56 Nia e 55.23 142.68
and surface-dried base (Mg/m3) Cra e 130.51 201.06
Water absorption (% wt.) for 24 h 1.07 2.66 4.49 4.36 LOI 3.71 5.39 5.52
Aggregate crushing value (wt%) e 16.28 19.72 19.63 a
In ppm.
220 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225
Fig. 4. Mineralogical composition of the aggregates used.
particle (FL) content, in turn, was lower than the respective value
for the draft European standard (2 cm3/kg).
Further to the classification proposed by Agrela et al. (2011), the
RA used was a mixed recycled aggregate, for it had a clay-based
material content of 0e30% and a concrete and natural aggregate
content (Rc þ Ru) of 70e90%.
The differences in colour (in the web version) and shape of the
recycled aggregate components visible in Fig. 1 are a reflection of
their variable nature. The clay-based materials had sharp edges
while the asphalt and concrete waste exhibited rounder edges.
3.1.2. Physical and mechanical properties of the mixed recycled
aggregate
Results of the physical and mechanical properties of the RA are
presented in Table 3. The size distribution curves of the aggregates
in each of the concrete mix studied are shown in Fig. 3. The
maximum particle size of both the new and the natural aggregate
was 20 mm (see Table 3), as may be deduced from the particle size
distribution curves for mix aggregates in Fig. 3.
The results showed that the recycled aggregate was less dense
than the natural coarse aggregate, by 4.67% for RA and 3.87% for
RAWF. That lower density was attributed to the (less dense) mortar
attached to the aggregate and the lower density of the clay-based
and floating materials, an observation reported by other authors
(Gonzalez-Fonteboa and Martinez-Abella, 2008). The values ob-
tained lay within the 2.22e2.58 Mg/m3 range found by Agrela et al.
Table 5
Slump test results.
Concrete Replacement ratio of recycled aggregate (%)
RC RA 0%
RCF-25 RA 25%
RCF-50 RA 50%
RC-25 RAWF 25%
RC-50 RAWF 50%
RCS RA 0%
RCFS-50 RA 50%
RCS-50 RAWF 50%
(2011), which characterised a total of 19 mixed recycled aggregates
with different contents of constituents.
RA and RAWF were observed to absorb 1.68 and 1.63 times more
water than the natural aggregate due to the higher porosity of the
attached mortar (Etxeberria et al., 2007) and the clay-based ma-
terials such as sanitary ware (Medina et al., 2012, 2013b). Water
absorption was higher (by 3%) in RA than in RAWF because of the
presence in the former of floating particles, primarily wood, which
has a high absorption coefficient. The absorption values for this
aggregate were within the range (2.10e8.79%) reported for other
types of RA (Agrela et al., 2011) and below the 5% ceiling laid down
in the Spanish Code on Structural Concrete (Regular Commission of
Concrete, 2008).
Finally, Table 3 also shows that the natural aggregate had a
higher crushing value (ACV) than the mixed recycled material (with
or without floating particles). The mass loss was 21.12 and 20.58%
lower in gravel than in RA and RAWF, respectively, as both the clay-
based fraction (Zakaria and Cabrera, 1996) and the attached mortar
are weaker than natural aggregate. The values obtained are similar
to obtained by other researchers (Kumar and Dhinakaran, 2012;
Butler et al., 2011), which observed values of 17.77% and 23.1% for
recycled aggregates, respectively.
3.1.3. Chemical and mineralogical composition of the mixed
recycled aggregate
Results of the chemical analysis of the RA are presented in
Table 4. It is shown that the RA contained silica oxide (54.37 wt %),
aluminium oxide (12.90 wt %), iron oxide (8.28 wt %) and calcium
oxide (7.94 wt %), along with smaller proportions (<5 wt %) of other
Slump (mm)
oxides. The trace elements present (such as Sr, Cl, Zr, Cr, etc.) are
32 given in ppm in the table. This material had a higher percentage of
32
iron oxide than other recycled aggregates (Bianchini et al., 2005),
32
35 due to the natural coarse aggregates have a high content of this
32 oxide.
41 The SiO2, Al2O3, CaO and LOI values given in the table are within
42 the ranges 84.2%e48.0%, 17.2%e4.6%, 13.9%e2.4% and 19.6%e3.4%,
41
respectively observed by Angulo et al. (2009) for CDW.
 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225 221

Fig. 5. Concrete density.

Table 6 As shown in Fig. 4, results of the mineralogy analysis of the RA

Concrete compressive strength. appear to indicate that quartz was the prevalent mineral, although
Concrete Concrete age feldspars such as albite, orthoclase and sanidine were also present,
7 days 28 days
as well as mullite, hematite, magnetite and calcite. Most of these
mineral phases had been identified in earlier studies (Vegas et al.,
RC 41.40  1.556 53.70  0.438
2011; Rodrigues et al., 2013).
RCF-25 37.80  0.587 45.61  1.351
RCF-50 34.80  0.053 43.80  0.438
RC-25 40.10  0.283 52.11  1.923 3.2. Fresh concrete
RC-50 34.55  0.354 44.75  0.764
RCS 52.10  0.283 65.03  1.146
RCFS-50 37.58  2.051 47.68  0.240 3.2.1. Slump test
RCS-50 37.75  0.071 48.84  0.396 The slump test findings for all the concretes are listed in Table 5.
This table shows that concrete workability remained constant
with rising recycled aggregate contents despite the higher water

Fig. 6. Recycled concrete strength relative to reference concrete strength.

222 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225

Fig. 7. TZ (250): a) gravel/paste; b) wood/paste; c) plastic/paste.

absorption in recycled aggregate, for initial moisture and absorp-
tion were taken into consideration in the mix design to prevent
their adverse effect on such an important physical property. Similar
results were reported by Barbudo et al. (2013) and Fonseca et al.
(2011), who observed that using recycled aggregates in concrete
had no direct impact on workability in the presence of the same
effective w/c ratio.
The concretes containing the superplasticiser were observed to
be 28% more workable than the concretes without the admixture.
3.3. Hardened concrete
3.3.1. Density
Fig. 5 shows the density values for the saturated concretes at 28
days. Density was lower in the recycled concrete than in the
reference concrete (RC and RCS) and declined with rising mixed
recycled aggregate content, regardless of whether the aggregate
contained floating particles. This decline was the result of the lower
density of the RA than the natural aggregate. A linear relationship
was also observed between density and the RA replacement ratio,
supporting findings reported previously by Martínez-Lage et al.
(2012).
Density was higher in the concretes containing the super-
plasticiser (RCS, RCS-50 and RCFS-50) than in those without it (RC,
RC-50 and RCF-50), as a result of the lower w/c ratio and lower
water content and therefore the lower porosity in the former.
The density values lay within the range (2.4e2.13 kg/dm3)
observed previously in concrete containing aggregate sourced from
C&DW (Martínez-Lage et al., 2012; Rao et al., 2007).
3.3.2. Compressive strength
The compressive strength results for the concretes at 7 and 28
days are given in Table 6. It is clear that all the concretes exhibited
compressive strengths of over 30 MPa, and as expected, the
strength values declined with rising percentages (or replacement
ratios) of the recycled aggregate (RA or RAWF). On average, the 28-
day compressive strength was 15e20% lower for the recycled
concrete than for the reference concrete. The results in Table 6 also
shows that the concretes with a lower w/c ratio (i.e. containing the
superplasticiser) exhibited higher compressive strength (Hover,
2011): 21.10% higher in RCS than RC, 8.86% higher in RCFS-50
than in RCF-50 and 9.14% higher in RCS-50 than RC-50.
Fig. 6 presents the relative compressive strength results of the
recycled concrete mixes with respective to the reference concretes
(i.e. RC and RCS) at 28 days. The results appear to show that
strength was slightly lower in the recycled concrete mixes con-
taining recycled aggregate with floating particles (i.e. RCF25, RCF50
and RCFS50) than in the corresponding concretes containing

Fig. 8. Tensile splitting strength in recycled concrete at 28 days.

 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225 223

Table 7 These results provided further evidence of the adverse effect of

Total water absorption in concretes. floating particles on mechanical properties (Ferreira et al., 2012),
Concrete Total water absorption (wt%) % Increase due primarily to the poor bonding between such particles and the
RC 3.64  0.084 0.00
paste.
RCF-25 4.13  0.030 13.39 Lastly, the figure shows the effect of the w/c ratio on concrete
RCF-50 4.65  0.008 27.63 strength: RCS was 10% stronger than RC, RCFS-50 22% stronger than
RC-25 3.94  0.010 8.27 RCF-50, and RCS-50 6% stronger than RC-50.
RC-50 4.53  0.086 26.18
RCS 2.91  0.147 0.00
RCFS-50 3.96  0.025 36.19 3.3.4. Total water absorption
RCS-50 3.80  0.137 30.82
Table 7 lists the total water absorption values found for the
concretes studied. These values were observed to rise with the
recycled aggregate without floating particles (i.e. RC25, RC50 and percentage of mixed recycled aggregate, and more sharply in the
RCS50). The difference seems to be more significant at the RA concretes containing mixed recycled aggregate with floating par-
replacement ratio of 25%. ticles (RA).
The lower strength in the recycled concretes concurred with the This behaviour was due mostly to the differences in water ab-
findings reported by Mas et al. (2012a,b) and Martínez-Lage et al. sorption coefficients between the recycled (RA and RAWF) and
(2012), who observed strength losses of 10e20% for RA replace- natural aggregates and concurred with the findings reported by
ment ratios of 25 and 50%. Moreover, the decline was steeper in the other authors using recycled aggregates from C&DW (Gonzalez-
recycled concretes containing superplasticiser due to the possible Fonteboa and Martinez-Abella, 2008; Levy and Helene, 2004) and
interaction between the admixture used and the fines in the waste. ceramic wastes from sanitary ware (Medina et al. 2013a).
Poorer performance was the result of the adverse effect of the The results also show that the concrete mixes containing
ceramic fraction and the asphalt materials on compressive superplasticiser absorbed less water: 20.10%, 14.74% and 17.16% less
strength, as shown by Paine and Dhir (2010) and Huang et al. (2006, in RCS, RCFS-50 and RCS-50, respectively, than in the respective
2005). The findings on the effect of the floating particles were non-superplasticiser concretes. This can be attributed to the fact
consistent with the results of research conducted by Ferreira et al. that lower w/c ratios of the superplasticised concretes lead to a
(2012), who reported that an increase in the fraction of floating decline in total pore volume (Hover, 2011), which in turn translates
materials induced a decline in compressive strength. The poor into lower water absorption (Gomes and de Brito, 2009).
bonding between floating particles (wood and plastic) and cement Finally, where the criterion for defining concrete quality is water
paste, which gave rise to a weak interfacial transition zone (ITZ), as absorption, with a value of under 10% being regarded as high
shown in Fig. 7, may have contributed to the decline in strength. quality (Neville, 2008) and (Senthamarai et al., 2011), recycled
concrete made with RA would meet the requirements for a wide
range of applications, including housing construction.
3.3.3. Tensile splitting strength
Fig. 8 shows the variation in tensile strength with rising per-
centages of recycled aggregate (RA and RAWF). 3.3.5. Sorptivity
Strength slid in all the recycled concretes except RC-25, Fig. 9 shows the sorptivity values for the concretes, measured
declining with the rise in the mixed recycled aggregate content in using a slightly modified version of the RILEM method. All the test
all the other mixes. This also was consistent with findings of earlier specimens were cured for 28 days and then conditioned in a 55  C
reports on this type of aggregates (Mas et al., 2012a,b). oven for two weeks before testing. The sorptivity results appear to

Fig. 9. Concrete sorptivity.

224 C. Medina et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 68 (2014) 216e225
show that at the RA replacement ratio of 25%, sorptivity remained
almost constant, with the recycled concrete mixes (i.e. RC25 and
RCF25) having marginally lower sorptivity than the reference con-
crete (RC). At the RA replacement ratio of 50%, however, the recycled
concrete mixes were found to have significantly higher sorptivity
than the reference concrete. For example, the sorptivity was 16% and
20% for RCF-50 and RC-50 than for RC, respectively, and 11% and 14%
higher for RCFS-50 and RCS-50 than for RCS. The increase in sorp-
tivity of the recycled concretes might be mitigated, however, with
the use of superplasticiser or active additions such as silica fume or
fly ash as partial substitutes for ordinary Portland cement (OPC), or
by using some other type of blended cement, for these materials are
known to lower concrete water absorption (Papadakis, 2000).
The present sorptivity findings are consistent with the obser-
vations reported by other authors (Kou and Poon, 2012; Wirquin
et al., 2000) using construction and demolition waste as coarse
aggregate in concrete manufacture.
The results furthermore clearly showed that the addition of a
superplasticiser, with the concomitant reduction in water content,
could significantly lower concrete sorptivity. This finding concurred
with the observations reported by Hall and Hoff (2002) and Kou and
Poon (2012) to the effect that sorptivity declined with the w/c ratio.
Finally, according to the classifications proposed by Alexander
et al. (2008) and Ho et al. (1986), concrete durability can be deter-
mined from its water sorptivity values. Both groups of authors con-
tended that concretes with a water sorptivity of under 6 mm/h0.5 are
durable, although others (Menendez et al., 2007) proposed lowering
that value to 3 mm/h0.5 for reasons of safety. On the grounds of these
classifications, the recycled concretes made with mixed recycled
aggregate may be regarded as apt for housing construction.
4. Conclusions
The conclusions that can be drawn from the present findings
and observations are listed below.
1. The mixed recycled aggregate used in this study consisted pri-
marily of concrete (46%), unbound aggregate (28%), asphalt
(19%) and clay-based waste (5%). Its asphalt and other material
contents (X þ Rg þ floating particles) exceeded the limits set in
BS EN 8500-2.
2. The consistency of recycled concretes is unaffected by the
replacement of natural with mixed recycled aggregate (RA and
RAWF).
3. The saturated density and the mechanical performance of
recycled concretes are moderately lower than the reference
concrete, particularly at the higher RA replacement ratio and
with floating materials.
4. The use of mixed recycled aggregate in concretes at the RA
replacement ratio of 25% has no effect on the sorptivity of the
concrete. However, at the RA replacement ratio of 50%, the
sorptivity of the recycled concretes are 10e20% higher than the
reference concrete.
5. Recycled concretes with a reduced w/c ratio through the use of a
superplasticiser exhibit higher mechanical strength, lower
sorptivity and water absorption, thus better durability.
6. At replacement ratios of up to 50%, the recycled aggregate
studied is apt for making concrete with sufficient strength and
durability for housing construction.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science
and Innovation under project ref. BIA2010-21194-C03-01. A major
share of the experimental work was conducted in the UK in
collaboration with the University of the West of Scotland during the
first author’s participation in a visiting scholar programme.
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