Assessement of the Waste Glass Powder Pozzolanic Activity by Different Methods

The purpose of this work is the study of the use of waste glass obtained from crushed containers and building demolition as partial Portland cement replacement in mortar and concrete. For this, the waste glass must have the characteristics of pozzolanic material. In this context, a study of the pozzolanic activity of two types of glass clear and green coloured, with varying the particle size of the ground waste glass in the ranges: 100 and 80 μm, 80 and 40 μm and lower than 40 μm, was made. The glass cullet was first characterized by XRF and XRD. Then, the pozzolanic activity was assessed by chemical (Chapelle test), mechanical (compressive strength on mortar bars containing 20% of ground glass and 80% of cement at 28 days) and physical (dosage of Ca(OH)2 by DSC) methods. By chemical and physical methods, it was proved that calcium hydroxide causes the hydrolysis of the waste class, followed by calcium silicate hydrate formation. By mechanical method, it was concluded that the use of waste glass as partial replacement of Portland cement requires the grinding of the waste glass to a particle size lower than 40 μm without regard to samples colour.