Special Issue: Structural Concrete Material-New Trends for Eco-Efficiency and Performance.

During the last few years, structural concrete has experienced significant advances, stimulated by the demand for stricter requirements in terms of sustainability, durability and strength [...

Parametric Study towards Optimization of a Short Duration Carbonation Process of Recycled Cement Paste.

The recycling process of concrete originates a byproduct, cement paste powder (CPP), which is a material composed mainly of hydrated cement. This cementitious material has demonstrated promising results when applied as a binder in new concrete batches, provided it has been subjected to a previous carbonation process. One of the obstacles to the industrial application of this strategy is the long duration of the typical carbonation process, which requires from 3 to 28 days.

Valorisation of Recycled Cement Paste: Feasibility of a Short-Duration Carbonation Process.

Cement paste powder (CPP) is a by-product of the recycling process of concrete with an elevated carbonation capability and potential to be recycled as a binding material in new concrete batches. The application of a carbonation treatment to CPP improves this potential even more, besides the evident gains in terms of CO net balance. However, the long duration usually adopted in this treatment, from 3 to 28 days, hampers the industrial viability of the process.

Compressive strength evaluation of structural lightweight concrete by non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity method.

In this paper the compressive strength of a wide range of structural lightweight aggregate concrete mixes is evaluated by the non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity method. This study involves about 84 different compositions tested between 3 and 180 days for compressive strengths ranging from about 30 to 80 MPa. The influence of several factors on the relation between the ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive strength is examined.

Microstructural analysis of Iberian expanded clay aggregates.

This article presents a detailed study of the microstructure of Iberian expanded clay lightweight aggregates (LWA). Other than more commonly used mercury porosimetry (MP) and water absorption methods, the experimental study involves optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and microtomography (μ-CT). Pore connectivity and how it is deployed are shown to some degree, and the pore size spectrum is estimated.