INNOVATIONS FORUM

USE OF RECYCLED GLASS AND FLY #50 or finer, no expansion of the glascrete mortar bars was
observed. This means that the ASR expansion increases with
ASH FOR PRECAST CONCRETE increasing fineness of glass particles up to a certain point, and
then decreases afterwards [for details, see New York (1997,
1998)]. The practical implication of this finding is that waste
Postconsumer glass represents a major component of solid glass, ground to at least mesh size #100, is not likely to cause
waste. Because current collection methods are limited, only a unacceptable expansion due to ASR. However, for decorative
small fraction can be recycled directly to the primary market applications, it is desirable to include glass particles as large
— the bottling and container industry. The problem is partic-
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as mesh #4 in the concrete mix. In this case, the reactivity of

ularly acute in large metropolitan areas such as New York City, the large glass particles needs to be suppressed with appro-
which is collecting annually more than 100,000 tons of mixed- priate approaches.
color glass. This amount does not reflect the glass collected This new finding provides a sound experimental evidence
by industrial and commercial companies. On the other hand, for a comprehensive chemo-physico-mechanical theory, which
the United States generates 100 million tons of coal combus- is currently under development to rationalize the observed ex-
tion ash annually, of which 60 million tons are fly ash. Ap- perimental behavior. The ASR expansion process can be char-
proximately 27% of the fly ash produced is reused or recycled, acterized by using composite theories combined with diffusion
and the rest is landfilled. The purpose of the present research theories. Since ASR expansion is similar to thermal expansion
project is to develop two new materials called ‘‘glascrete’’ and of composite materials, the expansive strains can be deter-
‘‘ashcrete,’’ which have the potential of being made almost mined from theoretical models developed for thermal expan-
entirely out of recycled materials: crushed mix-color glass as sion of composites. One such theoretical model for evaluating
aggregate and activated fly ash (or portland cement) as ce- effective expansion of composites is based on the generalized
mentitious binder. Glascrete has an attractive appearance, self-consistent method, which was used in our study. As for
which makes it suitable for various architectural and decora- the ASR expansion mechanisms, the experimental evidence
tive applications. The combination of waste glass with port- suggests that there are two transport processes involved. One
land cement or activated fly ash offers intriguing possibilities, is the penetration of ions from the pore solution into the ag-
which will be highlighted in this paper. gregate, and the other is the permeation of the ASR gel formed
on the aggregate surface or interfacial transition zone into the
GLASCRETE: PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE
matrix. The ionic diffusion process is surface-area dependent.
WITH WASTE GLASS AS AGGREGATE
Thus, when the ion diffusion process is the predominant mech-
The first research phase dealt with the partial replacement anism, the expansion increases with increasing fineness of re-
of natural aggregate by waste glass in portland cement con- active aggregate. When the gel permeation is the predominant
crete. The main problem to be confronted was the chemical mechanism, the expansion decreases with decreasing size of
reaction between the alkali in the cement paste and the silica the reactive aggregate, because ASR gel formed around very
in the glass, called alkali-silica reaction (ASR). In ASR, the small aggregate particles can escape into the surrounding pores
hydroxide ions in the pore solution of the cement paste react of the cement paste with negligible resulting expansion. In
with reactive silica in the aggregate. The reaction products reality, the ASR expansion is the combined effect of these two
cause swelling and therefore can damage the concrete due to opposing transport processes, which can explain the pessimum
excessive cracking. An aggregate’s reactivity depends on the size effect.
crystal structure of its constituents. An unreactive aggregate
has ordered silica-oxygen tetrahedra, while a reactive aggre- Glass Type
gate (e.g., opal) has an amorphous structure, i.e., a disordered
network of silica-oxygen tetrahedra with large internal surface Since the chemistry of different types of consumer glass is
area and thus an unstable higher state of energy. Common different, one would expect different ASR expansions. Various
consumer glass is amorphous and therefore highly reactive in types of glass aggregate were tested, including soda-lime glass
portland cement concrete. Throughout the project, the accel- (used in most beverage containers), Pyrex glass, and fused
erated mortar bar test of ASTM C 1260 was used to examine silica. It was found that maximum expansions of mortar bars
the reactivity of glascrete. Our research showed that there are made with different glass aggregate types differ by almost one
several approaches that can effectively control the expansion order of magnitude. Window glass, plate glass, and windshield
of ASR due to glass aggregate, in addition to the conventional glass were found to cause negligible ASR expansion in the
approaches used to minimize ASR expansion of regular port- ASTM C 1260 test.
land cement concrete.
Glass Color
Size Effect
When studying the expansion of mortar bars containing
The particle size of glass aggregate was found to have a glass of different colors, clear glass (the most common kind
major influence on ASR expansion. Since the ASR reaction is in waste glass) was found to be most reactive, followed by
clearly a surface-area dependent phenomenon, one would ex- amber (brown) glass. Surprisingly, green glass caused no ex-
pect the ASR associated expansion to increase monotonically pansion. If ground fine enough, it even reduced the expansion
with aggregate fineness. However, there exists a size of the caused by the slightly reactive sand used in the mix. This
aggregate at which the maximum expansion occurs. This is means that finely ground green glass has the potential to be
called ‘‘pessimum’’ size, which for regular soda lime glass is an inexpensive ASR suppressant — a discovery for which Co-
about #16 or #30 mesh size. For aggregate finer than the pes- lumbia University has been granted a patent. The effectiveness
simum size, processes other than the surface-area dependent of green glass as an ASR suppressant was found to correlate
become predominant and the expansion decreases with further well with the amount of Cr2O3 that is added to the glass for
fineness. In fact, when waste glass was ground to mesh size color. Chromium oxide, added as a straight additive to the
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING / MAY 1999 / 89

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 1999, 11(2): 89-90

 concrete mix, increases the expansion considerable. But if ratio depends on the specific chemical composition of the ash
added as chemically bound frit, it can serve as an ASR inhib- to be used, particularly its Al2O3 and SiO2 contents. Tests with
itor. This ASR suppressing mechanisms of Cr2O3 has yet to be different water-to-binder ratios revealed the basic trend that
explained. The mortar bar test showed that the contributions the lower this ratio, the higher the resulting strength. The low-
of the various color components in mixed-color waste glass to est water-to-binder ratio tested was 0.3.
overall expansion do not follow linear superposition at all. In In order to evaluate the effectiveness of ashcrete in terms
fact, in the pessimum size range of #8 and #16 mesh particles, of reducing ASR-induced expansion, the same sand, coarse
mixed-color glass caused more expansion than clear glass, aggregate and glass aggregate were used as in the regular glas-
even though it contained sizable amounts of less reactive am- crete. The ashcrete mortar bar samples were tested by ASTM
ber glass and nonreactive green glass. These results require C 1260. As the first step, ashcrete samples were made with
further confirmation and scientific explanation. natural aggregate to compare it with normal portland cement
concrete. The expansions of the ashcrete samples were about
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Glass Content 0.017%, while those of portland cement samples were about
0.05%. These are small and unproblematic values, yet ashcrete
The ASR expansion of mortar bars as measured in the binder seems to reduce expansion of ASR. Not only is the
ASTM C 1260 test, was found to be almost linearly propor- maximum expansion of ashcrete much smaller than that of
tional to the percentage of glass in the mortar bar mix. These regular concrete, but the expansion time histories for ashcrete
results are in contrast to reports mentioned in the literature also exhibit different behavior. For portland cement concrete,
about the existence of a possible pessimum content of reactive the expansion increases continuously during the 14 day testing
aggregate. period. For ashcrete, all curves except the one for bars with
#50 glass particles showed that expansions increase for a cer-
ASHCRETE: ACTIVATED FLY ASH WITH tain period and thereafter decrease continuously. After about
GLASS AGGREGATE 10 days, the net expansions turned negative, i.e., instead of
expanding, the specimens shrank. For specimens with #100
In addition to the use of glass aggregate in portland cement glass particles, the shrinkage started after three days. The max-
concrete, the writers examined the effectiveness of a new con- imum amount of shrinkage measured was about 0.015%,
crete in terms of reducing ASR expansion. After briefly de- which is very small compared with the drying shrinkage of
scribing the properties of this new concrete, its effectiveness regular concrete.
in reducing ASR expansions will be discussed. Investigations similar to those described above for portland
The new material is called ashcrete. It is a low-cost and cement concrete with waste glass were also conducted for ash-
environmentally friendly cementitious material and has great crete to study the effect of glass particle size, glass type, color
potential for various applications in construction, especially for and content. The test results showed that (1) unlike in portland
precast concrete. Ashcrete consists of activation chemicals, cement concrete, green glass is not effective in suppressing
Class-F fly ash, coarse and fine aggregates without any port- ASR expansion; (2) ashcrete with Pyrex glass or fused silica
land cement. The utilization of fly ash is completely different as aggregated resulted in higher ASR expansion than if win-
from that in conventional concrete. Using ashcrete as a binder, dow glass aggregate was used; and (3) 100% of natural ag-
with waste glass added as aggregate, the resulting glascrete gregate can be replaced by waste glass, and the resulting ASR
could potentially consist of 100% recycled solid waste. expansion of ashcrete is below the limit of 0.1% considered
The controlling parameters of ashcrete have been identified by ASTM C 1260 as critical. The most important conclusion
and optimized in terms of strength development and cost. Ash- is that ASR-related expansion does not appear to be a problem
crete develops strengths up to 62 MPa (9,000 psi) in 24 h. for ashcrete with waste glass aggregate.
The activation chemicals are sodium hydroxide and sodium
silicate solution. There is no high calcium lime involved, and APPENDIX. REFERENCES
thus the nature of the chemical reactions is not pozzolanic, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. (1997).
which results in a very fast strength development. The con- ‘‘Use of recycled glass for concrete masonry blocks.’’ Final Rep. 97-
trolling parameters that are particularly important for ashcrete 15, Nov.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. (1998).
have been identified, namely, the ratio of total activation chem- ‘‘Use of recycled glass and fly ash for precast concrete.’’ Final Rep.
icals to fly ash, the molar ratio of silica dioxide to sodium 98-18, Oct.
oxide (SiO2 /Na2O), and the water-to-binder ratio (binder is the
sum of sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate solution, and fly Christian Meyer
ash). The other controlling parameters are similar to those for Department of Civil Engineering
portland cement concrete, such as binder-to-aggregate ratio and Engineering Mechanics
and coarse-to-fine aggregate ratio. Columbia University
The ratio of the total activation chemicals to fly ash has an New York, NY
effect on both ultimate strength and strength development. The
basic trend is that the higher the ratio, the higher the resulting Yunping Xi
strength of the ashcrete. For economic reasons, the ratio should Department of Civil, Environmental
be kept below 20%. Also the molar ratio SiO2 /Na2O has a and Architectural Engineering
critical effect on both ultimate strength and strength develop- University of Colorado
ment. Our extensive test results showed that the SiO2 /Na2O Boulder, CO

90 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING / MAY 1999

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 1999, 11(2): 89-90