Influence of granular fraction and origin of recycled concrete aggregates on their properties

Large quantities of construction and demolition wastes are produced each year. In order to make good use of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) in concrete, it is very important to study the influence of the granular fraction and the origin of RCA on their properties. In this study, RCA from industrial produced blocks (RCA_Blocks) and slabs (RCA_Slabs) were crushed and then separated into four granular fractions (0/2, 2/6.3, 6.3/14, 14/20 mm). Each granular fraction of RCA was physically characterised. Real RCA from recycling plant were also used for comparison. The results showed that recycled sands offered significantly higher cement paste content (higher bound water content) than coarse recycled aggregates. The fine RCA had therefore a higher water absorption coefficient compared to coarser fractions of RCA. The water absorption of finer fraction of RCA could be extrapolated precisely from the relationship between water absorption and cement paste content (or bound water content) of three coarse fractions of RCA. The values of hardened cement paste content obtained for the RCA_Blocks were lower than those measured on the RCA_Slabs, which was due to a smaller amount of initial cement paste content in blocks. The results showed that RCA_Slabs were more angular than RCA_Blocks.