1

DevelopmentofConcreteContainingWaste
Glass
G.D.Perkins,CivilEngineeringResearchUnit,DivisionofCivil&MechanicalEngineering,
FacultyofAdvancedTechnology,UniversityofGlamorgan,Pontypridd,CF371DL

ProcessedglassELV,containerandarchitectural
AbstractThe large scale production of Portland cement glassoffractionsize5mmdust
andtheacquisitionofaggregatesfromdredgingandquarrying
Glass powder a much finer material which is
have a dramatic impact on the environment. Consequently
collected in the air filtration system whilst
extensiveresearchisongoingintotheuseofPortlandcement
producingtheprocessedglass
replacements,usingmanywastematerialsandindustrialby
products,forexample,pulverisedfuelash(PFA)andground
granulatedblastfurnaceslag(GGBS).Thecontinuingdebate
relatingtoUKgovernmentpolicyonlandfilltaxdictatesthat
theuseofwastefromothersourcesishighonthepoliticaland The glass powder is being used for partial binder
researchagenda. replacementinproportionsof10%,20%and30%binder

Inadditiontotheuseofbinderreplacementmaterialsfrom
replacementwhereastheprocessedglassisbeingusedfor
waste, there is somewhat less regard given to the subjectof
100%replacementoffineaggregate.Thecoarseaggregate
usingwastematerialtoreplacethefineaggregatecontentof
componentoftheconcreteisstandardisedat10mmcrushed
concrete.
limestone.

Glassfromvaryingrecyclingprocessesisconsideredtobea Each of the materials has been analysed to establish

materialwhichcouldbeusedasbinderandalsoasaggregate
replacement.Glasswhichismostconsideredforrecyclingin
terms of environmental protection is that from containers,
architecturalandendoflifevehicleglass.Thisstudyoutlines
theuseofsuchrecycledglassasabinderandfineaggregate
replacementanddetailsworkabilityandstrengthdevelopment
chemical composition and size. The particle size of the
processed glass was established by sieve analysis and a
comparisonmadebetweenitandthenaturalsandbeingused
incomparative mixes (Figure 1). The particle size of the
glasspowderwasestablishedusingaMalvernInstruments,
Mastersizer2000unit(Figure2).
ParticleSizeDistributionChart

of concrete containing glass as partial replacement of NaturalSand GlassSand

traditionalmaterials. 100%

90%

80%
IndexTermsconcrete,wasteglass
PercentagePassing

70%

60%

50%

I.INTRODUCTION 40%

30%

T HEglassbeingutilisedinthisresearchprojectisderived
frompostconsumercontainerglass,endoflifevehicle
20%

10%

(ELV)glassandarchitecturalglass. 0%
0 0.063 0.15 0.212 0.3 0.425 0.6 1.18 2 3.35 5
ParticleSizemm

TheglasswhichisusedinthisprojectissuppliedbyVirador
RichardsonsLtd,andissuppliedastwodifferentproducts: Figure1Particlesizedistributionchart

ManuscriptreceivedOctober26,2007.
p

GaryD.PerkinsisaResearchStudentCivilEngineeringResearchUnit,
Division of Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Advanced
Technology,UniversityofGlamorgan,Pontypridd,MidGlamorgan,CF37
1DL,UnitedKingdom(email:gperkins@glam.ac.uk).
 2
Glasspowderparticleanalysis
Figure3Workabilityofofstandardconcretevs.glass
100 derivedsand
80
%passing

60 Further to establishing a mix design that produced an

40
20
0 thecontrolmix(composedofPC:naturalsand:limestone
0.212 0.150 0.063 0.030
Sievesize
Figure2Glasspowderparticleanalysis
Shi[1]citesothers[24]ascommentingthatverylimited
workhasbeenconductedfortheuseofgroundglassasa
cement replacement in concrete, and it is considered that
there is only very scant research in the area of replacing
100% of the fine aggregate component of concrete with
glassorcombiningbothlevelsofreplacement.Someofthe
workthathasbeenreportedindicatesthattheuseofglass
aggregateimprovestheflowpropertiesoffreshconcreteso
thatveryhighstrengthscanbeobtainedevenwithouttheuse
ofsuperplasticizers [5].However,theworkcarriedout to
date in this respect shows that this is not necessarily the
case.
II.EXPERIMENTATION
Chemical composition and soluble oxide content of both
materialswasdetermined. Arangeofconcretemixeswas
manufacturedincorporatingprocessedcrushedglassorglass
powderorboth.Testmixeswereundertakentoestablishthe
effectoftheglassmaterialsonthemix,duringwhichtimeit
quicklybecame apparent that the processedcrushedglass
hadamarkeddetrimentaleffectupontheworkabilityofthe
fresh concrete when used to replace 100% of the fine
aggregatecomponentofthemix(Figure3).
Workability
Naturalsand
140
120
acceptablelevelofworkability(determinedataw/bof0.5)
additionalmixeswereproducedusingvariousquantitiesof
thetworeplacementmaterialsandcomparisonsmadewith
0.010 0.001 0.000 aggregate.Theconcretewasusedtoproduce50mmcubes
and 100mm cubes, which were watercured at 20C.
Compressivestrengthwasdeterminedforcuringperiodsof
7,14,28,90days.Inaddition,thelargercubeswerecored
andslicedtoproducediscswhicharecurrentlybeingusedto
determinevaluesofsorptivity.
III.RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
The initial testing of the processed glass and the glass
powderindicatethatbothmaterialsaresomewhatdifferent
despite being derived from the same source. This is
particularlyevidentwithregardtothesolublesilicacontent
ofthetwomaterials,butisconsideredtobetheresultofthe
differenceinparticlesizeofthetwomaterials.Onanalysisit
was establishedthat thecrushedglass providedcontained
contaminantsintheformof:
tracesofpolymers
polyvinylbutylene (PVB) from the ELV glass
content
traces of acrylic from the architectural glass
content.
Ninetypercentofthecontaminantmaterialwasconsidered
tobePVB.
Itwasestablishedthattherewasasmallamountoforganic
materialpresentinthecrushedglass,butthiswasconsidered
tobepaperresiduefromthelabelsonthebottleglass.The
moisture content of the glass as supplied was considered
Glasssand insignificantat0.29%.Followinglossonignitionanalysis,a
0.02%losswasrecorded.Thefreelimecontentofcrushed
glassandglasspowderis1.22%and0.26%respectively.

100
Slump(mm)

80
Onincorporatingcrushedglassintotheconcretemixinlieu
60 of the natural sand, workability became impaired
40 significantly when compared to the control mix. Several
20 factors have been considered in this respect and this
0 phenomenoncanbeattributedinpartto:
0 10 20 30 Theangularinterlockingnatureoftheparticles
Binderreplacementlevels(%) Suctionbetweenthelargerparticlesontheaddition
ofwater
 3

Surface tension of the water coating the glass

particles

Despite the reduced fluidity of the fresh concrete, its REFERENCES

workability was prolonged when compared to the control [1] [1]CShi,YWu,CRieflerHWang,CharacteristicsandPozzolanic
duetothelackofabsorptionoftheglassparticles;however, ReactivityofGlassPowdersCementandConcreteResearch2004.
thiscouldcreateproblemsincertaincircumstances. Uncorrectedproof,articleinpress.

Strength development of the concrete containing 100%
crushedglassasthefineaggregatecomponentofthemix
comparedfavourablywiththatofthecontrolat thesame
age.Thecontrolat28daysachievedacompressivestrength [3]
of 49.1N/mm2 (Figure 4) whereas the concrete containing
glass aggregate achieved a compressive strength of
49.5N/mm2 (Figure5).Strengthtestingisongoing.Despite
the favourable strength results obtained, the visual
appearanceoftheglassaggregateconcretedemonstrateda
[2] [2]AScmidt,WHFSaia,AlkaliAggregatereactiontestsonglass
usedforexposedaggregatewallpanelwork,ACIMater.J.60(1963),
pp.12351236.
[3]C.D. Johnston Waste glassascoarseaggregateforconcrete,J.
Test.Eval.2(1974),344350.
[4] [4]C.Meyer,S.Baxter,W.Jin,Alkaliaggregatereactioninconcrete
with waste glass as aggregate, Proceedings of the 4th Materials
EngineeringConference:MaterialsfortheNewMillennium,ASCE,
Reston,VA,1996,pp.13881397.

lack of physical bond between the cement paste and the

[5] CMeyer,Recycledglassfromwastematerialtovaluableresource.
glassaggregate.However,researchiscontinuinginthisarea Proceedings of the international symposium organised by the
andtheareaofthechemicalbondbetweenthesame. concrete technology unit and held at the University of Dundee,
Scotland,UKon1920March2001.
Strengthdevelopment(naturalsandfineaggregate)

0 10 20 30Replacementlevel(%)

60
CompressiveStrength(N/mm2)

50

40

30
7 14 28 90

Days

Figure 4 Strength development (natural and fine

aggregate)

IV.CONCLUSIONS

The conclusion that has been drawn from the research

programmetodateincludes:

Crushedglassisasuitablematerialforuseas100%
replacementforfineaggregate.
Glasspowderexhibitspozzolanicpropertiesbutis
dependantuponfinenessofthepowder.
Concrete containing glass as fine aggregate can
achievecomparablestrengthstothatofnaturalsand
aggregates.
Fluidityofthefreshconcreteisinhibited.