Influence of waste glass on concrete strength and permeability during dry-wet cycles.

AbstractA series of experiments were carried out to explore the impact of waste glass on the durability of concrete. In this study, waste glass was incrementally incorporated to replace sand as the fine aggregate in creating 240 concrete specimens, with substitution rates of 0%, 10%, 30%, and 50%. The concrete specimens were subjected to early strength testing on the 3rd and 7th day, followed by evaluation of strength and permeability after curing for 28 days with dry-wet cycles. Furthermore, ultrasonic wave analysis was conducted on the waveform, and the concrete’s internal phases and chemical composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results led to the following observations: (1) The inclusion of glass sand lowered the early compressive strength of concrete, with the lowest drop being 24.78%. However, when it was cured for 28 days and the content of glass sand was not more than 30%, the change rate of its compressive strength was between −2.85% and 3.19%, so it was practically negligible. (2) Glass sand substitution rates ranging from 10% to 30% greatly enhanced the strength of concrete under dry-wet cycles, and the 50% substitution rate significantly improved the permeability properties, although it adversely affected the strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]