1.1 Background of the Study
Ceramic industries produce a lot of waste regardless of the enhancements the enterprises have introduced in the manufacturing process. Ceramic sectors generate about 15%-30% of the residues (Correia 2004). The wastes when released into the environment, pose environmental problems (Ahmad 2015).
Therefore, a suitable method of managing the ceramic waste powder is required to avoid polluting the environment. When polishing ceramic tiles, ceramic waste powders are produced and dumped into landfills, which can cause air, soil, and water pollution, creating a significantly severe environmental deterioration (Correia, 2004).
Many construction companies have ruled out waste from ceramic industries and deemed them unfit for sale due to their mechanical and dimensional defects. However, the results from this study demonstrated that the ceramic waste powder could be used to produce concrete by replacing the CWP with cement (Giridhar et al., 2015). Hence, ceramic waste powder is one of the most important materials used to increase the quality of ordinary cement. Ceramic waste powders have advantages other than environmental protection; for example, the wastes reduce the use of other raw materials, impacting the economy of natural resources positively (Gambhir, 2013).
The ceramic waste powder is one of the admixtures used to strengthen concrete, and it is mainly made of SiO2 and Al2O3, making it the best material for manufacturing concrete(Gambhir, 2013). The admixture is a material other than fine aggregate, cement, coarse aggregate, and water used as an ingredient of concrete and is annexed to the group instantly before and during mixing (Kamala and Rao, 2012). The ceramic waste powder is hard, durable, and highly resistant to physical, chemical, and biological degradation forces. Therefore, nowadays, construction engineers use ceramic waste powder to modify ordinary concrete to increase its durability, strength, and quality performance.
The ceramic waste powder comes from two sources. First, from ceramic industries, the waste is known as non-hazardous industrial waste (NHIW). According to Kamala and Rao (2012), non-hazardous industrial wastes are all waste produced by industrial activities that are not categorized as hazardous by the European list of waste in Order MAM/304/2002 (p. 74). Another source of ceramic waste powder comes from construction and demolition activities. The waste consists of a significant percentage of demolition and construction waste (Kamala and Rao 2012).
The negative impact of ceramic waste powder on the environment caused researchers to investigate the use of the waste (CWP). A recent study by Giridhar et al. (2015) found that construction engineers can use a ceramic waste product as an ingredient in concrete production to replace cement (p. 15). In the study, (8, 24, 32, and 40%) of ceramic waste powder was incorporated into concrete, and the performance of ferroconcrete was improved. Therefore, this study investigated the effects and properties of an original concrete mix that has ceramic waste powder instead of cement
1.2 Aim of the Study
The central purpose of this research is to investigate and examine the effects and properties of the architectural concrete mix that has ceramic waste powder instead of cement. The research could achieve its aim by investigating if the ceramic waste powder could improve the quality of the concrete when mixed. Two, by studying and looking at the structure and properties of the ceramic waste powder and comparing them with that of cement. Lastly, the structure and properties of ordinary concrete are analyzed, and the concrete mix is compared with the ceramic waste powder.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The specific goals of this study are:
- To examine whether it is possible to design a concrete mix using ceramic waste powder in place of cement
- To investigate the other benefits and uses of ceramic waste powder.
- To determine how to manufacture a high-performance, low-cost concrete mix using ceramic waste powder, reducing environmental pollution and the use of natural resources.
1.4 Methodology
The study was done using a mixed design. The study used experimental, comparative, and correlational research designs. The research designs used in the study were significant and helped the study fulfill its aims. A stratified method was used to choose the variables for the study because the study’s variable is countable. Materials used in the research were cement, ceramic waste powder, and concrete.
Five concrete mixes that have a different replacement for ceramic waste were designed. Furthermore, 40 specimens of numerous shapes and sizes, such as 500mm X 100mm X 100mm beam samples and 200mm X 200mm X 200mm cube samples, were constructed for flexural tests and compression. The tests were done after 7 days and 21 days. The results were observed and shown at the end of this study.
1.5 The Structure of the Dissertation
The research dissertation has five chapters, and the sections are as follows,
- The first chapter introduces the research project on the effects and structure of concrete mixes that use ceramic waste powder to replace cement. It presents the background of the study, its primary purpose, and the thesis objectives. The methodology section outlines the methods used to conduct the research. Lastly, chapter one presents the structure of the dissertation.
- The second chapter of the thesis is a literature review. In this section, current writing on concrete and ceramic waste powder is reviewed. Numerous materials were used to evaluate the literature. The documents include books, journals, and electronic sources that touch on the subject.
- The third chapter of the paper outlines the methodology and research design used in the study. The methods and models used in the study are explained in this chapter.
- After chapter three, the paper moves to section four, where the study’s results are discussed. This chapter presents and analyzes all the results collected during the research.
- Chapter five is the last section of the thesis. It concludes the study and makes recommendations for future work.
References
Ahmad, S., 2015.Application of Waste Ceramic Tile Aggregates in Concrete. International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, pp.12808– 12815.
Correia, J.., 2004. Effects on concrete durability of using recycled ceramic aggregates. Waste Management.
Gambhir, M.L., 2013. Concrete Technology: Theory and Practice.
Giridhar, V., Rao, H.S. & Kumar, P.S.P., 2015.Influence of Ceramic Waste Aggregate Properties on Strength of Ceramic Waste Aggregate Concrete.IJERT, pp.15–24.
Kamala, R. &Rao, B.K., 2012.Reuse of Solid Waste from Building Demolition for the Replacement of Natural Aggregates. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 2(1), pp.74–76.
