ARTICLE IN PRESS

Building and Environment 42 (2007) 3801–3807

www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Cement composites with limestone dust and different grades

of wood sawdust
Paki Turgut
Department of Civil Engineering, Harran University, Osmanbey Campus, Sanliurfa, Turkey
Received 2 October 2006; received in revised form 27 October 2006; accepted 8 November 2006

Abstract

This paper presents a parametric experimental study which investigates the potential use of limestone powder wastes (LPW) and wood
sawdust wastes (WSW) combination for producing a lightweight composite as a building material. Some of the physical and mechanical
properties of brick materials having various levels of LPW and WSW with different particle sizes are investigated. The obtained
compressive strength, flexural strength, unit weight, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and water absorption values satisfy the relevant
international standards. The results show the effect of high level replacement of WSW with LPW does not exhibit a sudden brittle
fracture even beyond the failure loads, indicates high energy absorption capacity, reduce the unit weight dramatically and introduce a
smoother surface compared to the current bricks in the market. It shows a potential to be used for walls, wooden board substitute,
alternative to the concrete blocks, ceiling panels, sound barrier panels, absorption materials, etc. Recycling of unmanaged WSW and
LPW as new brick material supplements appears to be viable solution not only to the environmental problem but also to the problem of
the economic design of buildings.
r 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Wood; Limestone; Cement; Waste; Brick; Masonry

1. Introduction received conscribe attention over the past years. Some

Accumulating of unmanaged wastes especially in devel-
oping countries has resulted in an increasing environmental
concern. The increase in the popularity of using environ-
mental friendly, lightweight construction materials in
building industry has brought about the need to investigate
how this can be achieved by benefiting to the environment
as well as maintaining the material requirements affirmed
in the standards. Since a large demand has been placed on
building material industry especially in the last decade
owing to the increasing population that causes a chronic
shortage of building materials, the civil engineers have been
challenged to convert the industrial wastes to useful
building and construction materials.
Many previous researches [1–15] have obtained valuable
results to use the industrial wastes in various forms of
concrete production. For instance, the use of waste rubber,
glass powder and paper waste sludge in concrete mix has
E-mail address: turgutpaki@yahoo.com.
researches carried out in the past used wood ash wastes as a
replacement for cement in concrete mixes [1–2]. Although
these researches are providing encouraging results, the
brick mixes having both WSW and LPW combination
hitherto has not been investigated. These wastes utilized in
this research are widely available in large amounts from the
forest and limestone industries. This paper presents some
of the physical and mechanical properties of brick mixes
having various levels of LPW and WSW with different
particle sizes.
Most wastes used in this research are currently disposed
in sanitary landfills or open dumped into uncontrolled
waste pits and open areas. A perennial dilemma for the
industries has been the disposal of WSW and LPW
generated. This predicament is not unique to Turkey or
UK [16,17]. This is a world wide energy loss and
environmental disposal problem. Disposal of this product
waste is a major problem for the many small businesses.
Therefore, the acceptable solution of this problem with a
commercial value is crucial.

0360-1323/$ - see front matter r 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.11.008
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
3802 P. Turgut / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 3801–3807

Wood product and furniture manufacturers generate brick-like appearance but it behaves similar to the widely
sawdust, offcuts and dust. Sawdust is generated from used autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). Its physical and
cutting, drilling and milling operations where wood is mechanical properties presented in this paper show that it
removed from a finished product. Wood dust are very fine has a great potential as a lightweight building material,
particles and generated during sanding or other machining which may offer significant savings not only in labour and
operations, it is often collected in filter bags or dust transportation but also in the amounts of binder and steel
collectors. The physical and chemical properties of wood reinforcement consumed in the construction.
dust vary significantly depending on many factors such as
geographical location and industrial processes. The condi-
tion of wood wastes is often variable in both quantity and 2. Experimental programme
quality, and with little or no accurate information
documenting wood waste arisings, it is important to 2.1. Materials
develop comprehensive detailed plans for accurate data-
base concerning all aspects of wood waste. In some cases, WSW used in this research is generated from the
wood waste contains some degree of contamination mechanical processing of raw wood in the sawing process.
reducing the net value of the material and requires further WSW is used in its original form and taken from its
processing in order to meet end market specifications. Each disposed area near the timber manufactures in the local
of these factors can generally influence the recyclability of region. LPW used in the brick samples is produced during
wood waste. On average, 48 million m3 of timber is being quarrying operations in the region. The results of chemical
consumed annually in the UK and the wood processing and physical analysis of LPW, WSW and cement are given
results in 5–10% sawdust and dust wastes [16]. in Table 1.
Currently, the blocks of limestone are extracted via chain WSW used in this study is categorized as WSW-fine,
saw, diamond wire and diamond saws from quarries and WSW-Coarse and WSW-Mixed in terms of their particle
then the blocks are cut into smaller suitable sizes to be used sizes. Fig. 1 shows the particle sizes of LPW and WSW
as building material [6]. The processing limestone that used in the fabrication of brick samples. The grading of the
includes crashed limestone production is results in LPW and WSW is shown in Table 2.
approximately 20% LPW. The estimated LPW of 21.2 Cement used in this study is Portland cement with
million tons in the UK, 18 million tons in Greece and 30 calcite, complies with TS EN 197-1-CEM II/A-L 42.5 R
million tons in Turkey is reported [5,6]. Disposal of LPW [19], produced at the Cement Mill in the region. Tap water
causes dust, environmental problem and pollution because is used in the brick samples. The properties of the water
of its fine nature. It contaminates the air with the storms in used in this study are of pH 6.2, 5.6 mg/l sulphate content
the summer and spring seasons and therefore causes and have a hardness of 3.7.
serious health hazards including specifically asthma. The
industry suffers to store LPW due to the costs of storage. 2.2. Mixing and fabrication of bricks
There are limited numbers of studies about the possible
utilization strategies of LPW in civil engineering industry Ten different types of mixtures are prepared according to
[5,6]. The samples with the diameter of 50 and 80 mm the requirements of BS 6073 [20] in the laboratory trials.
height are produced and their compressive strength, The details of mixes are given in Table 3. The cement and
modulus of elasticity and density are determined by
Galetakis and Raka [5]. The tests are undertaken on the Table 1
limited number of cylindrical samples that are not on the The properties of WSW, LPW and cement
standard brick sample forms. The flexural strength and
Properties (Percentage by mass)
water absorption values are not determined in this research
[5]. The other engineering properties required by the (LPW) (WSW) (Cement)
international standards such as ASTM C 67-03 [18] need
SiO2 (%) 0.26 1.17 19.20
to be investigated.
CaO (%) 56.19 0 52.00
Using the WSW–LPW combination as a fine aggregate MgO (%) 0 0 1.00
in its natural form has allowed producing economical, Al2O3 (%) 0.25 2.38 3.70
lighter and environmental-friendly new cement composite Fe2O3 (%) 0.30 0.23 0.16
material. This paper presents the research work undertaken SO3 (%) 0 0 2.80
Na2O (%) 0 0 0
to study the properties of this new composite material,
K2O (%) 0 0 0.27
which contains various levels of WSW, LPW, small Cl (%) 0 0 0.006
amounts of cement as binder and water. The replacement Loss on ignition (%) 42.65 96.22 8.20
of these wastes as aggregate in the tested samples PH — 9.9 —
dramatically reduces the unit weight. A better and Density 2.67 0.65 3.00
Specific surface area (m2/kg) 145 — 500
smoother surface is obtained. This combination provides
Compressive strength for 28 days (MPa) — — 48
a unique kind of building material which exhibits concrete
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P. Turgut / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 3801–3807
Fig. 1. LPW and WSW investigated in this research: (a) LPW, (b) WSW-fine, (c) WSW-coarse, (d) WSW-mixed.
Table 2
Sieve analysis of LPW and WSW
BS test sieve Cumulative passing by weight (%)
LPW WSW-fine WSW-coarse WSW-mixed
1.18 mm 99.76 100 95 91.5
600 mm 97.06 100 0 43.5
300 mm 86.39 35 0 11.5
150 mm 60.27 6 0 1.6
75 mm 44.45 0 0 0 compressive strength and flexural strength values of the
water proportions in the mixes are taken as constant to
determine the effect of various WSW–LPW combinations.
The replacement ratios between WSW and LPW are
taken as volumetric in the mix design. For instance, the
20% replacement of WSW-fine means that 20% of the
corresponding LPW volume is replaced by WSW-fine in
the LWF-20 samples (see Table 3). The percentage weight
replacements between WSW and LPW in the mixes are also
provided in Table 3.
In the mixing process of samples, LPW, WSW and
cement contents are placed in a concrete mixer and mixed
for 1 min. It is observed that WSW is uniformly scattered
within the mixes. In order to obtain more homogeneous
mixes, the water is sprayed by air pump onto the mixes
while the mixer is turning. Another 3 min of mixing is
conducted. Afterward, the fresh mixes are fed into the steel
moulds. The total number of samples prepared by this
procedure is 150. Table 4 shows the sample sizes and the
number of samples is prepared for the corresponding
compressive strength, the flexural strength and the unit
weight tests.
The steel mould is over filled with the mixes using the
mixture proportions given in Table 3. The initial depth
covering the mould is approximately 150 mm. The pres-
sures are applied for 4 h to compact the material in the
mould. The amount of pressures applied to the material is
given in Table 3. Subsequently, the formed brick samples
are removed from the mould. No damage is observed on
the bricks while demoulding. All brick samples are cured in
air room temperature for 24 h. Afterwards, the bricks are
cured for a period of 28 days in the cure tank filled with
lime-satured water at 22 1C. Then, the brick samples are
dried for 24 h by a ventilated oven at 105 1C. The water
absorption is obtained from the samples prepared for the
3803
unit weight tests. The UPV tests are also conducted on the
samples made for the flexural strength tests. Fig. 2 shows
the three typical samples from each WSW categories and
their close-up surface texture views.
2.3. Tests methods
The series of tests are carried out according to ASTM C
67-03a [18] to determine the water absorption, unit weight,
brick samples.
After 28 days of curing, the brick samples are tested for
water absorption. They are taken out of the curing tank
and allowed to drain the surface water by placing them on
a metal wire mesh. The visible surface water is removed
with a damp cloth and the samples are weighted
immediately. After obtaining the saturated weight content,
they are placed in an oven at 105 1C and dried to a constant
mass for 28 h, and then taken out from the oven and
weighted at room temperature. The water absorption of
wet and dry weight of samples is calculated. The brick
samples are cooled at room temperature and each of their
unit weights are obtained by dividing the mass of the bricks
by their overall volume.
The dry compressive strength of brick samples is
determined by using the servo controlled compression test
machine with a maximum capacity of 800 kN. The
compression load is applied onto the face of the sample
having the dimensions of 105  90 mm2. The compressive
strength is determined by dividing the maximum load with
the applied load area of the brick samples. The dry flexural
strength of samples is determined by the three-point
bending test with a supporting span of 180 mm, a height
of 75 mm and a width of 105 mm. The direct UPV
measurements are also taken for each brick samples
according to BS 1881 [21]. The direct path length for the
direct UPV is measured through the brick length of
225 mm.
3. Test results and discussion
Table 5 shows the averaged tests results obtained from the
tests. fifty brick samples with dimensions of
105  225  75 mm3 are used for the flexural strength and
UPV tests. Other 50 samples with dimensions of
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Table 3
Mixture proportions

Mix no. WSW types Cement (g) Water (g) LPW (g) WSW (g) Total (g) Pressure (MPa)

Control mix — 376 188 2936 — 3500 17

LWF-10 Fine 376 188 2706 54 3324 8
LWF-20 Fine 376 188 2405 108 3077 4
LWF-30 Fine 376 188 2117 162 2843 2
LWC-10 Coarse 376 188 2706 54 3324 8
LWC-20 Coarse 376 188 2405 108 3077 4
LWC-30 Coarse 376 188 2117 162 2843 2
LWM-10 Mixed 376 188 2706 54 3324 8
LWM-20 Mixed 376 188 2405 108 3077 4
LWM-30 Mixed 376 188 2117 162 2843 2

Table 4 unit weight of ordinary concrete brick as 2.3 g/cm3 the

Sample sizes and the number of samples prepared mixture having 30% of WSW content provides a 65%
Mix no For the For the flexural For the unit
lighter concrete brick (see Table 5). This reduction in unit
compressive strength test weight test weight is a useful result, which exhibits the potential of
strength test LPW–WSW combination to be used in the lightweight
Sample size (mm3) 105  90  75 105  225  75 105  90  75 building material applications.
Fig. 5 shows the results of compressive strength values
Control mix 5 5 5
LWF-10 5 5e 5 obtained from the tests. The average compressive strength
LWF-20 5 5 5 values are inversely proportional with the percentage WSW
LWF-30 5 5 5 replacement (see Fig. 5). The strength dramatically decreases
LWC-10 5 5 5 with an increase in the replacement level of WSW. About
LWC-20 5 5 5
LWC-30 5 5 5
70% reduction in the strength of control mix is obtained
LWM-10 5 5 5 from the 30% WSW replacement (LWF-30 mix), which
LWM-20 5 5 5 attains the average result of 6.170.6 MPa complies with
LWM-30 5 5 5 BS6073 [21] and Turkish standard code as 5 MPa for burnt
Total numbers 50 50 50 clay bricks in load-bearing masonry units [24] (see Table 5).
LWF-30, LWC-30 and LWM-30 bricks can be used in the
non-load-bearing masonry units because of minimum
compressive strength 3.5 MPa in ASTM C 129 [25].
105  90  75 mm3 are tested for the compressive strength. It is also observed that the WSW–LPW–cement compo-
The additional 50 block samples of the same dimensions are site even in this compressive strength value can easily be cut
tested for unit weight and water absorption. All these tests with a simple handheld saw.
are conducted in accordance with ASTM C 67-03a [18]. Fig. 6 illustrates the relationship between the average
The two water absorption terms corresponding to the flexural strength and the percentage WSW replacement
volume and the mass of samples are calculated. Fig. 3 with LPW. It shows that the flexural strength values are
shows that the water absorption and the percentage WSW inversely proportionate with the WSW content in the test
values are proportionate. An improvement of 30% in the samples. BS6073 [20] requires 0.65 MPa as a minimum
WSW content almost doubles the initial water absorption flexural strength for the building materials to be used in
value. In the ASTM C 140 [22], the maximum water structural applications. All of the samples tested for the
absorption value is 0.288 g/cm3 for load-bearing and non- flexural strength satisfy this requirement (see Table 5 and
load-bearing concrete masonry units. In 30% WSW Fig. 6).
contents in all mixes, values of water absorption by mass The direct UPV values are measured on the flexural
are in relatively acceptable limit compared to the widely strength samples having a 225 mm direct path length
used lightweight building materials such as AAC which has required by BS1881 [21]. Fig. 7 shows the relationship
an approximate water absorption value of 60% [23] and between the UPV results and the WSW replacement values.
ASTM C 140 [22]. Since the UPV is lower through the voids, which are
The test results confirm that the unit weight values are produced by the WSW content in the samples, the
inversely proportional with the percentage WSW replace- reduction in the strength values causes the UPV to be
ment with LPW content (see Fig. 4). About 20% reduction decreased. The results suggest that the WSW content,
in the unit weight of control mix is obtained from the 30% the compressive and flexural strength values may
WSW replacement. This is an expected result owing to the approximately be determined without a destructive testing
water absorption nature of WSW. By assuming the average by using the non-destructive UPV measurements.
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P. Turgut / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 3801–3807 3805

Fig. 2. General view of samples: (a) LWF-30, (b) LWC-30, (c) LWM-30.

Table 5
Test results

Mix no. Compressive Flexural strength Unit weight, (g/cm3) Absorption (mass) Absorption UPV (m/sn)
strength (MPa) (MPa) (%) (volume) (%)

Control mix 24.972.1 3.9470.34 1.8870.01 12.470.0 23.371.0 2718731

LWF-10 10.070.6 3.0170.26 1.8070.01 13.971.0 23.571.5 2323755
LWF-20 9.971.0 2.8870.16 1.6370.02 16.870.8 25.071.2 2270752
LWF-30 6.170.6 2.4270.09 1.4770.03 19.071.2 27.871.1 1980766
LWC-10 16.171.0 3.8070.10 1.7470.06 13.270.7 23.070.6 2667775
LWC-20 10.470.6 3.3070.29 1.6570.01 16.070.4 26.470.6 2380750
LWC-30 6.271.2 2.3470.40 1.5070.02 20.270.9 30.371.0 2027779
LWM-10 16.670.9 3.6570.17 1.7070.06 13.971.2 23.571.5 2627769
LWM-20 11.070.2 3.5070.54 1.6670.02 15.170.9 25.071.2 2383767
LWM-30 7.270.9 3.0870.13 1.5170.02 19.270.5 29.070.4 2083790

Fig. 3. The relationship between the percentage WSW replacement and Fig. 4. The influence of percentage WSW replacement on the unit weight
the water absorption values in terms of the WSW categories. results.

Fig. 7 shows that the UPV values for the fine WSW
supplements are dramatically reduced within the investi-
gated percentage WSW replacement range, the exception to
this occurs only between 10% and 20% WSW replacement
content where the UPV values almost attain as constant.
This can be confirmed with the compressive and flexural
strength values (see Figs. 5 and 6). Whereas the strength
values between 10% and 20% WSW replacement content
provides better results for the mixed and coarse WSW
categories (see Figs. 5–7), the flexural strength values for
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3806 P. Turgut / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 3801–3807

4. Conclusions

The feasibility of producing artificial limestone brick

with wood sawdust was showed technically in this study.
Based on the experimental investigation reported in this
paper, the following conclusions were drawn:

(1) The physical and mechanical properties of brick

samples with WSW and LPW were determined. The
test results showed that the WSW–LPW combinations
have a potential to be used in the production of a new
lighter brick.
(2) The effect of 10–30% WSW replacements in the
Fig. 5. The relationship between the percentage WSW replacement and WSW–LPW matrix did not exhibit a sudden brittle
the compressive strength values. fracture even beyond the failure loads and indicated
high-energy absorption capacity.
(3) The WSW, having particle size less than 1.18 mm and
higher than zero, provided better results.
(4) In 30% WSW contents for all bricks, the values of
water absorption by mass were in acceptable limit in
accordance with the ASTM C 140 [22].
(5) This composition produced a comparatively lighter
brick which was about 65% lighter than the conven-
tional concrete brick.
(6) All bricks with 30% replacement level of WSW satisfied
the minimum compressive strength and flexural strength
requirements in BS6073 [20] and TS 705 [24] for load-
bearing concrete masonry unit materials to be used in
the structural applications. These bricks with 30%
replacement level of WSW can be used in non-load-
bearing masonry units according to ASTM C 129 [25].
Fig. 6. The influence of percentage WSW replacement on the flexural
strength results.
It would be valuable to investigate the thermal properties
of these composite brick materials in future works.

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Fig. 7. The influence of percentage WSW replacement values on the UPV
results.
the coarse WSW are dramatically reduced in the 30%
WSW replacement content. Figs. 5–7 suggest that the
mixed WSW category provides better strength values
within the investigated percentage WSW replacement
range.
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