Utilization of Ceramic Waste Replacing Coarse Aggregate to Produce Self-Compacting Concrete

Concrete is a versatile engineering composite material made with cement, aggregates and admixtures in some cases. Cement and coarse aggregate are two important constituents of concrete. Several studies were conducted to find an effective replacement for these raw materials of concrete with different goals such as reduced cost, increase workability and gain high strength. Due to the day by day innovations and developments in construction field, the global consumption of natural aggregates is very high and at the same time production of solid wastes from the demolitions and manufacturing units are also very high. Ceramic waste is the least expensive of all the concrete constituents and is much less expensive than natural aggregates and sand, thus the idea is to replace as much of the natural aggregates as possible to save money and to reduce the amount of disposable wastes, as well, but care has to be taken in order not to weaken the concrete by adding too much ceramic. In ceramic industry about 5-10% production goes as waste in various processes while manufacturing. (This waste percentage goes down if the technology is installed in the new units.) This waste of Ceramic Industries dumped at nearby places resulting in environmental pollution causing effect to habitant and agricultural lands. Self-compacting concrete is a highly flow-able type of concrete that spreads into the form without the need for mechanical vibration. Self-compacting concrete is a non-segregating concrete that is placed by means of its own weight. An attempt has been made to study the behavior of SCC with ceramic waste powder and understands the effect of the mineral admixtures on fresh & hardened properties of SCC and also investigates the compatibility of ceramic waste in SCC along with chemical admixture such as super plasticizers.