J. Environ. Nanotechnol.

Volume 3, No.1 pp. 67-71

ISSN (Print) : 2279-0748
ISSN (Online) : 2319-5541
doi : 10.13074/jent.2013.12.132059

Glass Wastes as Coarse Aggregate in Concrete

Vikas Srivastava1* , S. P. Gautam2, V. C. Agarwal3 , P. K. Mehta4
1
*Department of Civil Engineering SHIATS (formerly AAI-DU), Allahabad, UP, India.
2
Department of Civil Engineering SHIATS (formerly AAI-DU), Allahabad, UP, India.
3
Department of Civil Engineering SHIATS (formerly AAI-DU), Allahabad, UP, India.
4
Department of Civil Engineering MNNIT, Allahabad, UP, India.

Received: 13.09.2013 Accepted: 20.02.2014

Abstract

Waste glass is a major component of the solid waste stream in many countries. It can be found in many
forms, including container glass, flat glass such as windows, bulb glass and cathode ray tube glass. At present,
although a small proportion of the post-consumer glass has been recycled and reused, a significant proportion,
which is about 84% of the waste glass generated, is sent to landfill. Glass is a 100% recyclable material with
high performances and unique aesthetic properties which make it suitable for wide-spread uses. Glass is widely
used in our lives through manufacturedtract products such as sheet glass, bottles, glassware, and vacuum
tubing. Glass is an ideal material for recycling. The use of recycled glass helps save of energy. The increasing
awareness of glass recycling speeds up inspections on the use of waste glass with different forms in various fields.
One of its significant contributions is to the construction field where the waste glass was reused for concrete
production. The application of glass in architectural concrete still needs improvement. Laboratory experiments
were conducted in the SHIATS to further explore the use of waste glass as coarse aggregates replacement in
concrete. The study indicated that Waste glass can effectively be used as coarse aggregate replacement (upto
50%) without substantial change in strength.

Keywords: Coarse aggregate; Compressive strength; Concrete; Waste glass.

1. INTRODUCTION speeds up inspections on the use of waste glass with

different forms in various fields. One of its significant
Glass is a transparent material produced by contributions is to the construction field where the
melting a mixture of materials such as silica, soda ash, waste glass was reused for concrete production. The
and CaCO3 at high temperature followed by cooling application of glass in architectural concrete still needs
during which solidification occurs without improvement. Several study have shown that waste
crystallization. Glass is widely used in our lives through glass that is crushed and screened is a strong, safe and
manufactured products such as sheet glass, bottles, economical alternative to using sand in concrete.
glassware, and vacuum tubing. Glass is an ideal material During the last decades it has been recognized that
for recycling. The use of recycled glass helps save of Sheet Glass waste is of large volume and is increasing
energy. The increasing awareness of glass recycling year by year in the Shops, construction areas and
factories. Using waste glass in the concrete construction
*Vikas Srivastava Tel. : +919415369170 sector is advantageous, as the production cost of
E-mail: [email protected] concrete will go down. The amount of waste glass is
68 Vikas Srivastava et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 3(1), 67-71, (2014)

gradually increased over the recent years due to an i. To study the workability of concrete mode
ever-growing use of glass products. Most waste using glass waste as partial replacement of
glasses have been dumped into landfill sites. The land coarse aggregate
filling of waste glasses is undesirable because they are ii. To study the compressive strength of concrete
not biodegradable, which makes them environmentally mode using glass waste as partial replacement
less friendly. There is huge potential for using waste of coarse aggregate.
glass in the concrete construction sector. When waste
glasses are reused in making concrete products, the 2. MATERIAL& METHODOLOGY
production cost of concrete will go down (Topcu and
In order to study the effect of waste glass as
Canbuz, 2004). Crushed glass or cullet, if properly
partial replacement of coarse aggregate on the strength
sized and processed, can exhibit characteristics similar
of concrete, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate 60 cubes
to that of gravel or sand. When used in construction and 6 cubes 0% waste glass for a mix have been cast in
applications, waste glass must be crushed and screened the laboratory.
to produce an appropriate design gradation. Glass
crushing equipment normally used to produce a cullet
is similar to rock crushing equipment. Because glass Cubes, ( ) were cast.
crushing equipment in glass sector has been primarily An effort has been made here to compare the strength
designed to reduce the size or density the cullet for of cubes made up with different percentage of
transportation purposes and for use as a glass demolished waste to the respective strength of
production feedstock material, the crushing equipment conventional concrete at the end of 7 and 28 days of
used is typically smaller and uses less energy than moist curing and to have an idea about the optimum
conventional aggregate or rock crushing equipment percentage of demolished waste which does not affect
(Egosi, 1992). Waste glasses are used as aggregates the strength of recycled concrete considerably. Similarly
for concrete (Johnson, 1998, Masaki, 1995 and Park, fine aggregate and coarse aggregates was also partially
2000; Vikas Srivastava et al. 2013). However, the replaced by demolished waste and only cubes were cast
applications are limited due to the damaging expansion and tested after 7 and 28 days for mix of 1:1.67:3.33 at a
in the concrete caused by ASR between high-alkali pore w/c of 0.50.
water in cement paste and reactive silica in the waste
glasses. The chemical reaction between the alkali in Cement
Portland cement and the silica in aggregates forms silica
In this work, Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
gel that not only causes crack upon expansion, but also
of Birla (43 grade) brand obtained from a single batches
weakens the concrete and shortens its life (Swamy, 2003).
trough out the investigation was used. The physical
Ground waste glass was used as aggregate for mortars
properties of OPC as determined is Table 1.
and no reaction was detected with fine particle size,
thus indicating the feasibility of the waste glass reuse Fine Aggregate
as aggregate in mortars and concrete. Estimated cost
for housing is more and some construction materials Fine aggregate / sand is an accumulation of grains of
like natural aggregates are also becoming rare. Waste mineral matter derived from the disintegration of rocks.
glasses are used as aggregates for Concrete. In the It is distinguished from gravel only by the size of grain
present study en extensive experimental work was or particle, but is distinct from clays which contain
carried out and carried out to find the suitability of use organic minerals. Sands that have been sorted out and
of waste glass in concrete and it was proposed:- separated from the organic material by the action of
 Vikas Srivastava et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 3(1), 67-71, (2014) 69

currents of water or by winds across arid lands are Water

generally quite uniform in size of grains. Usually
commercial sand is obtained from river beds or from Potable water is used for mixing and curing.
sand dunes originally formed by the action of winds. On addition of higher percentage of demolished waste
Much of the earth’s surface is sandy, and the sand are the requirement of water increases for the same
usually quartz and other siliceous materials. Sand is workability. Thus a constant slump has been the criteria
used to make mortar and concrete and for making molds for water requirement but the specimens having 0%
in foundries. demolished waste, w/c of 0.50 has been used.

Coarse Aggregate Concrete

Coarse aggregate are the crushed stone used for The concrete mix design is done in accordance with
making concrete. The commercial stone is quarried, IS:10262 (1982). The cement content in the mix design is
crushed and graded. Much of the crushed stone used taken as 380 kg/m3 which satisfies minimum requirement
is granite, limestone and trap rock. Crushed angular of 300 kg/m3 in order to avoid the balling effect. Good
granite metal of 10 mm size from a local source was used stone aggregate and natural river sand of zone- II were
as coarse aggregate. The specific gravity of 2.6 and used as coarse aggregate and fine aggregate
fineness modulus 6.05 was used. respectively. Maximum size of coarse aggregate was
12.5 mm. a sieve analysis conforming to IS: 383-1970
The coarse aggregate are granular materials was carried out for both the fine and coarse aggregate
obtained from rocks and crushed stones. They may be .Concrete may be produced as a dense mass which is
also obtained from synthetic material like slag, shale, practically artificial rock and chemicals may be added o
fly ash and clay for use in light-weight concrete. make it waterproof or it can be made porous and highly

Table 1. Properties of Cement

E xpe rim ental C odal re quirem ent

S .N o. P r op erties
V alu e (IS 8112 -1989)
1 N orm al C onsistency 30%
(N ot les s tha n
2 Initial s etting tim e 104 M in
30 m in)
(N ot m ore than
3 F inal se tting tim e 310 M in
600 m in)
(N ot m ore than
4 Soundness of C e m ent 6m m
10 m m )
Fineness of C em ent (% age
5 2.5% <10%
re tained on 90 m ic ron IS sieve)
6 Spec ific gra vity of C em ent 3.15 3.15
7 C om pressive S trength
8 3 D ays 23.33 23 N /m m 2
9 7 D ays 33.66 33 N /m m 2
10 28 D ays 43.66 43 N /m m 2
70 Vikas Srivastava et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 3(1), 67-71, (2014)

permeable for such use as filter beds. An air-entraining 3. RESULT & DISCUSSION
chemical may be added to produce minute bubbles for
porosity. Normally, the full hardening period of concrete Results of observations are given in table 3
is at least 7 days. The gradual increase in strength is and fig. 2.
due to the hydration of the tri calcium aluminates and
silicates. Sand used in concrete was originally specified Table 3. Compressive strength
as roughly angular, but rounded grains are now
preferred. The stone is usually sharply broken. The Compressive % age
weight of concrete varies with the type and the amount Cube strength (N/mm2)
S.No. of
of rock and sand. designation
7 days 28 days Glass
Table 2. Properties of Aggregates 1 A 13.66 29.67 0
2 B 15.67 31.00 10
Coarse
Aggregate 3 C 14.11 29.67 20
Property Sand
12.5 4 D 15.33 25.33 30
20 mm
mm
5 E 14.67 27.33 40
Specific Gravity 2.62 2.71 2.70
6 F 15.67 29.67 50
Bulk Density
1573 1477 1489
(kg/m3)

Fig. 2: Variation in compressive strength of glass

waste concrete

It is observed that when coarse aggregate is

replaced by 10% glass waste, the compressive strength
Fig. 1: Test set up for compressive strength test of at 7 days is found to increase by about 14.63% on
concrete average. However, it is evident that increase in
 Vikas Srivastava et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 3(1), 67-71, (2014) 71

compressive strength at 28 days is only 4.49% at same Johnson, C. D., Waste glass as coarse aggregate for
replacement level. It is observed that on replacing coarse concrete, J. Test.Eval., 2, 344–350 (1998).
aggregate by 20% glass waste on average there is an Masaki, O., Study on the hydration hardening character
increase in compressive strength at 7 days by 3.24% of glass powder and basic physical properties of
however, at 28 days, compressive strength is same as waste glass as construction material, Asahi Ceramic
that of referral concrete. It is seen that there is an Foundation Annual Tech. Rep., 1995.
increase in compressive strength at 7 days by about Park, S. B., Development of recycling and treatment
12.17% and 7.31% respectively whereas at 28 days technologies for construction wastes, Ministry of
compressive strength is decreased marginally at 30 and Construction and Transportation, Seoul, Tech.
40% replacement level. Rep., 2000.
Swamy, R. N., Thealkali-silica reaction in concrete, 2nd
4. CONCLUSIONS edition, USA: Taylor & Francis., 335 (2003).
Topcu, I. B. and Canbaz, M., Properties of concrete
1. While using waste glass as coarse aggregate
containing waste glass, Cem. Concr. Res., 34, 267–
replacement, 28 days strength is found to
2 7 4 ( 2 0 0 4 ) . h t t p : / / d x . d o i . or g / 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 /
marginally increase up to 20% replacement
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