Comparison of ground waste glass with other supplementary cementitious materials

Finely ground glass has pozzolanic properties that make attractive its recycling as supplementary cementitious material. This paper compares the behaviour of waste glass powders of different fineness with that of natural pozzolana, coal fly ash and silica fume. Chemical analysis, compressive strength measurements and durability tests were carried out to investigate the effect of ground glass on strength and durability performances of mortars. Blended both with Portland cement and lime, ground glass improved strength, resistance to chloride penetration and resistance to sulphate attack of mortars more than natural pozzolana and similarly to fly ash. Mortars with ground glass immersed in water for seven years did not show any sign of degradation and increased their compressive strength. The ranking of ground glass with respect to the other mineral additions was not affected by fineness.