JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
The study of rheological characterization of construction and demolition waste (CDW)-based geopolymeric materials has gained interest due to digital innovation in construction and the increased focus on sustainable materials. Understanding the rheological behavior of these materials is essential due to their rapid geopolymeric reaction kinetics and viscosity behavior. This study investigated the impact of various CDW-based fine recycled aggregates, including crushed concrete aggregates (CRC), crushed ceramic-tile aggregates (CTA), and crushed brick aggregates (CBA), on the rheological behavior of geopolymer mortars (GPMs). Natural sand (NSA) was utilized as a reference for comparison purposes. In addition to CDW-aggregates, the GPMs were also made from optimized CDW-based precursors of brick waste powder (BP), ceramic-tile waste powder (TP), or concrete waste powder (CP). As a result, twelve different GPMs were considered, each containing 100 % individual CRC, CTA, and CBA fine aggregates, blended with BP, TP, and CP precursors. The study evaluated the relationship between the design variable of SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio as well as the packing densities (PD) of GPM systems and their rheological characteristics, such as flow, apparent and plastic viscosity, yield and shear stresses, thixotropy and shear strains employing the compressible packing method. The results indicate that all GPMs possess shear-thinning or pseudoplastic characteristics. Enhanced SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio generally resulted in increased rheological parameters. However, using TP as a precursor and CBA as fine aggregates in GPM matrices led to significant enhancement in rheological parameters due to the higher specific surface area of TP and the greater irregularity, convexity, and absorption capacity of CBA particles. Notably, although the enhanced non-colloidal frictional interactions and colloidal flocculation of CRC, CTA, and CBA resulted in reduced flow tendency of GPMs, they have been found to improve the thixotropy during the initial geopolymeric gelation stage.