A Study of Characteristics of the Mortar Produced from Waste Ceramic as a Fine Aggregate Replacement

The aim of this study is to investigate the strength development of mortar samples using waste ceramic (WCS) as a fine aggregate. The WCS was used as a partial replacement for river sand at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% for mortar production. The water-to-binder ratio was fixed at 0.4 and the fly ash (FA) was used at 15% of binder weight. The fresh properties of mortar samples were examined by flowability and fresh unit weight, while the compressive strength and electrical surface resistivity (ESR) of mortar specimens were evaluated up to 28 days of curing age. The influence of aggregate phases on the strength development of mortar samples was investigated with dry and saturated aggregate conditions during the mixing process. The testing results illustrated a reduction in flowability and fresh unit weight by using WCS to river sand. Besides, the compressive strength and ESR values also decreased with increasing WCS content. Using the saturated aggregate phase to produce the mortar samples presented a higher compressive strength than using the dry aggregate phase.