Porosity of the recycled concrete with substitution of recycled concrete aggregate. An experimental study

Abstract

In this paper, we present the experimental analysis of samples of recycled concrete (RC) with replacement of natural aggregate (NA) by recycled aggregate originating from concrete (RCA). The results of the tests of mechanical properties of RC were used for comparison with tests of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), in which the distribution of the theoretical pore radius, critical pore ratio, the surface area of the concrete, threshold ratio and average pore radius were studied at ages of 7, 28 and 90 days. The results showed some variation in the properties of the RC with respect to ordinary concrete. Porosity increases considerably when NA is replaced by RCA. Additionally, a reduction in the mechanical properties of the RC is seen compared with ordinary concrete when porosity increases.