Durability of Ternary Cements Based on New Supplementary Cementitious Materials from Industrial Waste

Cement-based materials decay with exposure to aggressive agents, a development that raises infrastructure operation and maintenance costs substantially. This paper analyses the inclusion of ultrafine construction and demolition (U-C&DW) and biomass-fuelled power plant (BA) waste as pozzolanic additions to cement in pursuit of more sustainable and eco-respectful binders and assesses the durability of the end materials when exposed to seawater, chlorides (0.5 M NaCl) or sulphates (0.3 M Na2SO4). The effect of adding silica fume (SF) at a replacement ratio of 5% was also analysed. Durability was determined using the methodology proposed by Koch and Steinegger, whilst microstructural changes were monitored with mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for a fuller understanding of decay processes. According to the findings, the new blended cements containing 20%U-C&DW + 10%BA or 20%U-C&DW + 20%BA + 5%SF resist the attack by the aggressive media studied, with a 56-d corrosion index of over 0.7. The composition of the reaction products generated with the attack is essentially the same in OPC and the SCM-bearing materials. The results show that the optimal replacement ratio for SCM is 30%.