Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Comparison of recycled aggregate treatment methods on the

performance for recycled concrete
Jiangang Wang, Jinxi Zhang ⇑, Dandan Cao, Haixiao Dang, Bo Ding
Department of Road and Railway Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Various microscopic tests were conducted to study the mechanism.

Two optimization methods for the treatment of recycled aggregates were proposed.

Mechanical performance and durability of recycled concrete were evaluated.

The interface property was quantitatively investigated by Vickers hardness index.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The effect of different aggregate treatment methods on the properties of both the recycled aggregate and
Received 11 June 2019 the recycled concrete was studied. In this work, the compressive strength, dynamic elastic modulus, dry
Received in revised form 21 October 2019 shrinkage rate, and chloride ion migration coefficient for five types of recycled concretes were investi-
Accepted 23 October 2019
gated. Moreover, the Vickers hardness index and micro-morphology of new and old interfaces were ana-
lyzed. The results showed that ‘‘carbonation” significantly improved the mechanical properties and the
dry shrinkage resistance of the recycled concrete. However, ‘‘slurry wrapping” greatly enhanced the chlo-
Keywords:
ride ion penetration resistance. Different aggregate treatment methods had different mechanisms to
Aggregate treatment
Recycled concrete
strengthen the interface. The influence of ‘‘carbonation” on the old interfacial zones (ITZ) was more sig-
Mechanical properties nificant than that on the new ITZ. A contrary influence of the ‘‘slurry wrapping” on both old and new ITZs
Durability was observed. The old interface had an obvious effect on the compressive strength and dynamic elastic
Vickers hardness modulus, while the new interface with different treatments had a non-negligible influence on the chlo-
ride penetration resistance. Besides, in this study, two optimization methods were proposed based on the
improvement of ‘‘carbonation” and ‘‘slurry wrapping” treatment, respectively. These optimized methods
can further improve the quality of recycled aggregate and the performance of recycled concrete.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
As one of the essential materials in civil engineering, cement
concrete is widely used in urban construction, traffic infrastructure
construction, etc. If only natural stone is used to produce concrete,
excessive exploitation of sand and stone will inevitably cause seri-
ous damage to the ecological environment. Meanwhile, a large
amount of construction waste cannot be effectively disposed thus
causing serious problems [1,2]. The development of recycled
aggregate concrete technology can not only provide a treatment
for the construction waste, but also alleviate the pressure of natu-
ral aggregate shortage. However, compared with natural aggregate,
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wangjiangang@emails.bjut.edu.cn (J. Wang), zhangjinxi@bjut.
edu.cn (J. Zhang).
the recycled aggregate has low apparent density, high porosity,
rough surface, high water absorption, high crushing value, and
many micro-cracks, etc., which are caused by the existence of
adhered old mortar [1,3,4]. Also, recycled concrete has the disad-
vantages of large water consumption, large shrinkage, poor
mechanical properties, and limited durability [5–8]. These disad-
vantages have greatly limited the application of recycled concrete
in practical engineering. Therefore, various technologies have been
developed to improve the performance of recycled aggregate and
recycled concrete.
Li et al. [9] and Dimitriou et al. [10] used the calcination-ball
milling method and thermal treatment method, respectively, to
remove the mortar on the surface of recycled aggregate and
improve the strength of the aggregate. However, in both the devel-
oped methods, the employed equipment required a large invest-
ment, consumed high power energy, and commonly caused the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117366
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366
internal damage of recycled coarse aggregate. Qiu et al. [11] uti-
lized microbial carbonate precipitation method to treat the recy-
cled aggregate. The treatment increased the density of the
recycled aggregate and decreased water absorption. However, the
microbial carbonate precipitation method is still immature, and
the test conditions are strict and difficult to control. Spaeth et al.
[12] used solution impregnation method to treat the recycled
aggregate. In this method, the recycled aggregate was impregnated
inside organic polymer solution and polyvinyl alcohol. After the
treatment, the organic substances played a certain role in ‘‘sealing
holes” thus improving the strength. However, due to the weak
bonding between aggregate and cement paste, the mechanical
properties of recycled concrete cannot be significantly improved.
In addition, this method required an expensive organic polymer
solution. Kazemian et al. [8] and Ismail et al. [13] treated the recy-
cled aggregate with low concentration hydrochloric acid, and
observed the mortar adhesion on the surface of the treated aggre-
gate using Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). Akbarnezhad
et al. [14] used the microwave method to treat recycled aggregate.
The results showed that this method can effectively remove some
attached mortar on the surface of recycled aggregate and improve
the quality of aggregate.
In the carbonation treatment method, CO2 is used to react with
the carbonable substances in old mortar on the surface of the recy-
cled aggregate. The reaction product fills pores and improves the
properties of the recycled aggregate. Tam et al. [15] designed a spe-
cial carbonation device, investigated the effect of carbonation pres-
sure and time on the properties of recycled aggregate, and
demonstrated the feasibility of carbonation method to strengthen
aggregates. Kou et al. [16] confirmed that the carbonated aggregate
can improve the mechanical properties, chloride ion penetration
resistance, and reduce drying shrinkage of recycled concrete. Xuan
et al. [17] showed that carbonation could reduce the water absorp-
tion of recycled concrete and improve its impermeability. Zhang
et al. [18] and Shi et al. [19] used the carbonated aggregate to pro-
duce recycled mortar and recycled concrete. In addition, the micro-
properties of the recycled mortar and recycled concrete were ana-
lyzed using SEM and microhardness test. In the above studies,
most recycled aggregates were prepared in the laboratory. The
attached mortar was newly formed containing a large amount of
calcium hydroxide (CH). After carbonation, the attached mortar
can produce more carbonation products, thus improving the per-
formance of the recycled aggregate obviously. However, the recy-
cled aggregate from construction and demolition (C&D) waste
contains less content of alkaline. Therefore, the traditional carbon-
ation method cannot provide a significant improvement on the
performance of the recycled aggregate from C&D waste.
In the wrapping method, the slurry was formed by single or
multiple materials, such as cement, fly ash, mineral powder, and
silica fume, and then was used to wrap the recycled aggregate.
The wrapping method had a simple and economical process. Ho
et al. [20] wrapped the recycled aggregate with pozzolan and poly-
vinyl alcohol materials. The results showed that the working per-
formance of recycled concrete can be significantly improved by
the wrapping slurry; however, the mechanical properties of the
recycled concrete were less improved. Kong et al. [21] pre-coated
the recycled aggregate with pozzolanic materials using the triple
mixing method, and then qualitatively evaluated the interface of
the pre-coated aggregate using SEM. Zhao et al. [22] used sulfoalu-
minate cement and fly ash to pre-coat the recycled aggregate, and
obtained the mixing ratio of the optimal slurry thickness. Guo et al.
[23] strengthened recycled aggregate with pre-mixed concentrated
cement slurry. Using this method, the compressive strength and
frost resistance of recycled concrete can be improved without
changing the mixing ratio. In the traditional slurry wrapping
method, the hydration products of powder cementitious materials
are mainly used to fill the pores in the old mortar of recycled aggre-
gate, thus strengthening the aggregate. Using the traditional slurry
wrapping method, the workability of fresh recycled concrete can
be obviously improved. However, the improvement on the
mechanical properties and durability of recycled concrete was lim-
ited. Meanwhile, there are not sufficient quantitative research on
the interface.
Among the above-mentioned aggregate strengthening methods,
carbonation and slurry wrapping methods have the highest poten-
tial to be applied in practice because of their convenient operation,
easy control and low cost. Therefore, this study focused on these
two environment-friendly and practical treatment methods, and
proposed some improvement strategies to address the shortcom-
ings of both methods. In order to improve the carbonation method,
it was proposed to alkalize the recycled aggregate from construc-
tion waste before carbonation to increase the alkali reserves. On
the other hand, for improving the slurry wrapping method, addi-
tives with micro-expansion properties were added in ordinary
wrapping slurry to further strengthen the weak interface. Consid-
ering the difference in the action mechanisms of carbonation and
slurry wrapping methods, the improvement effect for both meth-
ods should be different. However, there are few comparative stud-
ies on the two methods in the literature. SEM analysis was mainly
used to provide qualitative but no quantitative analysis on the
microscopic mechanism of the aggregate treatment. In addition,
the relationship between micro-interface strength and macro-
performance of recycled concrete was not sufficiently analyzed.
In this paper, based on the analysis of the properties of recycled
aggregate from C&D waste with poor quality, the treatment effect
of five different groups of samples (including improved carbona-
tion and improved slurry wrapping groups) was investigated. In
addition, the mechanism of the treatment methods was studied
based on the XRD (X-ray Diffraction) and DTG (Difference Thermo
Gravimetry) tests. Recycled concrete was prepared with the trea-
ted recycled aggregate. The treatment effect of recycled aggregate
was evaluated by the mechanical properties (i.e., strength and
dynamic elastic modulus), chloride ion migration coefficient, and
dry shrinkage rate of the recycled concrete. Besides, the improve-
ment mechanism of the treatment was quantitatively and qualita-
tively analyzed at the microcosmic level using the Vickers hardness
and SEM test. The relationship between macro and micro indica-
tors was also investigated. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the pro-
posed optimization strategies on both methods was demonstrated,
which can provide references for the applications of both carbona-
tion and slurry wrapping methods in practical engineering.
2. Experimental program
2.1. Materials
The Portland cement (strength grade 42.5) used in this study
was produced by Yanxin Building Materials Co., Ltd. in Hebei pro-
vince, China. The basic physical and mechanical parameters of the
cement met the technical requirements of GB 175-2007 [24], as
shown in Table 1.
The fly ash (class F grade I) was produced by Liaocheng Xinyuan
Co., Ltd. in Shangdong province, China. The characteristics of the fly
ash comply with GB/T 1596-2005 [25]. In detail, the specific sur-
face area of the fly ash was 398 m2/kg, the burning loss was 2.3%,
and the water demand ratio was 92%.
The sprayed concrete accelerator, with the loss on ignition of
2.48% and the f-CaO content of 0, was produced by Tangshan Build-
ing Materials Co., Ltd. in Hebei province, China. This dry powder
material was made through two steps, i.e., grinding special
sulphoaluminate cement clinker and adding a special function per-
 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366 3

Table 1
Physical and mechanical parameters of cement.

Fineness (BET surface area, m2/kg) Standard consistency water consumption (%) Setting time (min) Compressive Flexural
strength (MPa) strength (MPa)
initial final 3d 28d 3d 28d
333 27.6 140 180 29.2 53.8 6.7 9.5

formance modifier. The accelerator can promote the strength of Recycled aggregate Natural sand
concrete in early and late stages and reduce the volume shrinkage Upper (GB/T 25177-2010) Upper (JGJ50-2006)
of cement-based materials. The specific surface area of the acceler- Lower (GB/T 25177-2010) Lower (JGJ50-2006)
ator was 550 m2/kg, which was finer than that of fly ash, mineral 100
powder, or other admixtures. Therefore, the sprayed concrete
accelerator had better filling and penetration capabilities. The
chemical composition of these binders is shown in Table 2. From 80
Table 2, the accelerator had a higher content of Al2O3 than ordinary

Per cent passing (% )

cement, thus having the rapid early hydration.
The purity of hydrated lime powder was higher than 98.0%. The
fine aggregate used in this study was the natural sand with a fine-
ness modulus of 2.3, a water absorption rate of 0.52%, and an
apparent density of 2655 kg/m3. The coarse aggregate with the
particle size range of 5–25 mm was recycled from a construction
waste treatment plant in Beijing, China. Both the fine aggregate
and the recycled coarse aggregate were screened according to
JGJ52-2006 [26] and GB/T 25177-2010 [27], respectively. The
results are shown in Fig. 1. Meanwhile, Fig. 1 reveals that both nat-
ural sand and recycled aggregate meet the requirements of corre-
sponding specifications. Using the acid dissolution method, the
content of adhered old mortar content in recycled aggregate was
measured to be 45.0%. The recycled aggregate had an apparent
density of 2573 kg/m3, a crushing value of 18.26%, and a water
absorption of 4.93%.
A polycarboxylic acid superplasticizer with a water reducing
rate of 20% was used as the water reducing agent. Water was ordi-
nary tap water.
2.2. Treatment method for recycled aggregate
In this study, two improved methods were proposed based on
the improvement of carbonation and wrapping methods. First, in
order to increase the content of carbonable substances in old mor-
tar and generate more carbonation products, the impregnation of
CH was performed before the carbonation of recycled aggregate.
Second, the cement in slurry was replaced with a certain amount
of sprayed concrete accelerator, and the hydration products with
micro-expansion characteristics were used to enhance the
strengthening effect of recycled aggregate.
For the carbonation treatment, a concrete rapid carbonation test
chamber was used to carbonate the recycled aggregate. The tem-
perature was automatically controlled at 20 ± 2 °C, the concentra-
tion of CO2 was 20 ± 3%, and the humidity was 70 ± 5%. The
concentration of hydrated lime emulsion should be appropriately
selected. On the one hand, when the concentration was too low,
the effect of ‘‘calcium supplementation” on recycled aggregate
sourced from construction C&D waste was relatively small. On
the other hand, when the concentration of hydrated lime emulsion
was too high, the infiltration of CH through micro cracks of old
60
40
20
0
31.25 6.25 1.25 0.25 0.05 0.01
Sieve size (mm)
Fig. 1. Gradation curve of natural sand and recycled aggregate.
mortar was hindered. In this study, based on the ‘‘impregnating”
aggregate strengthening method reported in reference [28], the
concentration of CH was selected to be 10%.
Similarly, the thickness of slurry coating can be determined by
the water-cement ratio. In this study, according to the results from
relevant literature [22], the water-cement ratio was selected to be
1.0. Among the slurry wrapping components, fly ash was selected
mainly due to its filling effect, pozzolanic effect, and micro-
aggregate effect. According to literature [29,30], the strength and
dry shrinkage resistance of cement-based materials can be
improved to the largest extent by replacing 30–40% of cement with
the same amount of accelerator. Therefore, in the rapid-hardening
wrapping method, the dosage of accelerator agent was set to be
30%. Besides, 1% retarder was added to ensure the slurry have suf-
ficient wrapping and impregnation time. The details of the treat-
ment methods for the recycled aggregate are shown in Table 3.
2.3. Mixing ratio and test method of recycled concrete
The five groups of recycled aggregates treated by the different
methods were used to replace the natural aggregates and mix with
the recycled concrete. In the mixing process, the water-cement
ratio was remained constant at 0.48 and the amount of cement
was fixed at 400 kg/m3. In this study, the additional water method
was used to alleviate the problem of poor workability of the recy-

Table 2
Chemical composition of binders.

Compound SiO2 Al2O3 CaO MgO SO3 Fe2O3 K2O TiO2 Others
Cement (%) 21.28 4.76 59.6 3.25 3.03 2.70 0.98 0.35 0.55
Fly ash (%) 50.29 36.79 3.75 0.51 0.64 4.29 0.92 1.68 1.13
Accelerator (%) 0.14 19.84 43.19 2.66 20.32 1.48 0.12 0.80 0.20
4 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366

Table 3
Treatment methods for recycled aggregate.

Type Code Material composition Treatment process

Control group N-RA – –
(None)
Carbonation C-RA 20% high-concentration CO2 The dried recycled coarse aggregate was directly transferred to the carbonation
method chamber to be completely carbonated.
CH-RA Calcium hydroxide emulsion (10% Lime The recycled aggregate after natural air-drying was impregnated into CH
powder + 100% Water), 20% high- emulsion for 60 min, remixed once each 5 min, dried at 50 , and then moved into
concentration CO2 the carbonation chamber to be completely carbonated.
Wrapping method W-RA Ordinary wrapping: 100% Cement + 100% The soaking and wrapping time was 60 min, and the mixture was mixed once
Water + 15% Fly ash each 5 min. After coating treatment, it is aired in the room for 24 h, then moved
RW-RA New paste wrapping: 70% Cement + 30% into the curing room for 7 days, and then dried at 50 °C.
Accelerator + 100% Water + 15% Fly ash + 1%
Retarder

Note: The recycled aggregates with larger particle sizes were used to determine the completion of carbonation. The aggregates were crushed and sprayed with 0.1 mol/L
phenolphthalein reagent on the interface. If the treated sample was colorless, the carbonation was indicated to be completed.

Table 4
Mixing proportions of recycled concrete.

Code W/C Sand ratio Proportions (kg/m3) Aggregate type

Cement Sand Recycled coarse aggregate Water
N-RC 0.48 37% 400 687 1171 192 (+40.4) N-RA
C-RC 0.48 37% 400 687 1171 192 (+34.8) C-RA
CH-RC 0.48 37% 400 687 1171 192 (+32.1) CH-RA
W-RC 0.48 37% 400 687 1171 192 (+38.0) W-RA
RW-RC 0.48 37% 400 687 1171 192 (+37.1) RW-RA

Note: the amount of additional water for each mixing ratio is shown in the brackets.

cled concrete due to the high water absorption of recycled aggre-

gate. Additional water was added according to the water absorp-
tion of the aggregate (shown in Section 3.1). In addition, the New ITZ 1
polycarboxylate superplasticizer was added in the mixing process,
Old mor tar
and the slump of recycled concrete was controlled at 100 ± 20 mm
by adjusting the dosage of superplasticizer. The mixing proportions
New mor tar
of the recycled concrete are listed in Table 4.
In accordance with JTG E30-2005 [31], the compressive
strength was tested using a 2000kN pressure tester with a loading
rate of 5kN/s. The dimension of the specimen was Old ITZ
100  100  100 mm. The dynamic elastic modulus was deter-
New ITZ 2
mined by measuring the resonance frequency, mass, and other
parameters of the specimen, as specified in GB/T 50082-2009
[32]. The dimension of the specimen was 100  100  400 mm. VA
The cast specimen with the size of u100  200 mm cylinder was
cut into a cylinder with the size of u100  50 mm and then cured
until the test age. The chloride ion migration coefficient of concrete
was tested according to GB/T 50082-2009 [32].
The drying shrinkage test was performed in accordance with Fig. 2. Multiple ITZs inside recycled concrete.

GB/T 50082-2009 [32], in which the size of the specimen was

100  100  515 mm. The specimen was demolded one day after
casting and moved into the standard maintenance room for two
days. The initial length of the specimen was measured at the begin-
ning of the test before the specimen was placed in an environmen-
tal test chamber (with a temperature of 20 ± 2 °C and relative
humidity of 60 ± 5%). A micrometer was used to measure the
change of the length of the specimen with age. The test results of
all the above parameters were averaged three times.
2.4. Test method for Vickers hardness of recycled concrete
Compared with natural concrete, recycled concrete had more
interfacial transition zones (ITZ) due to the adherence of recycled
aggregate to old mortar. Fig. 2 shows a typical interface diagram
inside the recycled concrete. The cross section inside the recycled
concrete contains virgin aggregate (VA), old mortar attached to
the aggregate, new mortar, and various interfaces. There is an old
ITZ between the virgin aggregate and the attached old mortar,
and a new ITZ1 between the old and the new mortar. In the prepa-
ration process of the recycled aggregate, some aggregates were
completely exposed due to the removing of the old mortar, thus
a new ITZ2 was formed when the recycled concrete was produced.
In addition, different strengthening methods had little influence on
new ITZ2. Thus, in this study, only the old ITZ and new ITZ1 (here-
inafter referred to as new ITZ) were investigated in details.
Vickers hardness tester was used to analyze the ITZ of concrete
or recycled concrete [7,33,34]. The principle of the Vickers hard-
ness tester was pressing the diamond corner-cone indenter with
a certain shape into the surface of the tested piece under a certain
test force (10 g). The test force was maintained for a certain time
(10 s) and then removed. Then the diagonal length of the indenta-
 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366 5

(a) Sample (b) Vickers hardness tester

Fig. 3. Vickers hardness test.

methods were tested according to GB/T 25177-2010 [27]. The

Test point results are shown in Table 5.
10 From Table 5, all of the treatment methods can improve the per-
Distance (μm)

formance of recycled aggregates. As apparent density was higher,

the crush value and water absorption were lower. After carbona-
0
tion, the water absorption decreased, which was similar with the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
results in literature [16]. However, the water absorption and crush-
-10 ing value of CH-RA were lower than those of C-RA. The reason was
Distance (μm) that prior to carbonation treatment, there was a certain degree of
natural carbonation in the recycled aggregate sourced from C&D
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the distribution of test points in Vickers hardness test. waste. After CH impregnation, more carbonable substances were
supplemented to the recycled aggregate, and more CaCO3 was gen-
tion was measured and the hardness can be obtained from the erated in CO2 environment. As a result, the density of the recycled
length. The Vickers hardness was obtained using a positive quad- aggregate increased. The apparent density of RW-RA and W-RA
rangle head with a diagonal line of 136°. The Vickers hardness was smaller than that of C-RA and CH-RA. The newly coated slurry
can be calculated as follows: can cover the pores or micro-cracks on the surface of the old mor-
F 2F Sinðh=2Þ F tar; however, as a type of cement slurry, the newly coated slurry
HV ¼ ¼ 2
¼ 1:854 2 ð1Þ cannot be completely hydrated and has non-ideal compactness.
S D D
RW-RA had lower water absorption and crushing value than W-
where HV is the Vickers hardness (kgf/mm2), F is the test force RA. This phenomenon was because in early stage (first 7 days of
applied on the specimen (kgf), h is the angle of diamond pyramid the curing process), the coating slurry of RW-RA hydrated faster
(°), D is the diagonal length of the indentation (mm), and S is the and had better sealing and strengthening effects.
indentation surface area (mm2). The old mortar attached to recycled aggregate before and after
The specimen for the micro Vickers hardness test was prepared treatment was crushed and grounded into powder, and then
according to literature [35,36]. The test sample and system for the passed through the 0.075 mm sieve for XRD and DTG tests. The test
Vickers hardness test are shown in Fig. 3. In order to avoid overlap results are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively. The XRD test
or interference between adjacent indentations, the distribution of was conducted using an XRD-7000 X-ray diffractometer with a
test points was determined according to the Vickers hardness test diffraction angle of 10-80°. Fig. 5 shows that the mortar adhering
method reported in the literature [33], as shown in Fig. 4. It should to the recycled aggregate mainly contains quartz (SiO2), dolomite
be noted that during the ‘‘zigzag advance” test, the old ITZ and the
new ITZ were crossed, and more than 30 test points should be
selected for each specimen.

2.5. Scanning electron microscope (SEM)

The concrete produced from different types of recycled aggre-

gates was cured for 28 days, cut into thin concrete specimens con-
taining new and old interfaces, and dried at 60 °C for later use. In
order to ensure the high quality of the SEM photos, the specimens
were first processed with spraying gold treatment. Then the micro-
morphology and interface characteristics of recycled concrete were
obtained using a Gemini SEM 300 field emission scanning electron
microscopy.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Properties of aggregates

To evaluate the effect of recycled aggregate treatment, the

physical properties, including apparent density, water absorption,
and crushing value of recycled aggregate under different treatment Fig. 5. XRD test results of recycled aggregate.
6 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366

0.2 60.0
N-RC
Thermogravimetric loss rate (%*min-1)

0.0 C-RC
55.0

Compressive strength (MPa)

-0.2 CH-RC
W-RC
-0.4 50.0
RW-RC
-0.6
Characteristic peak 45.0
of Ca(OH) 2
-0.8
40.0
-1.0
N-RA
C-RA
-1.2 35.0
CH-RA Characteristic
W-RA peak of
-1.4
RW-RA CaCO 3 30.0
-1.6 7 28 56 84 112 140
200 400 600 800 1000
Ages (days)
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 7. Compressive strength of recycled concrete.
Fig. 6. DTG curve of recycled aggregate.

(CaMg(CO3)2), calcite (CaCO3), margarite (CaAl2(Si2Al2O10)(OH)2),

and other minerals. Most of the mineral compositions of the recy-
cled aggregate, except CaCO3, remained almost identical before
and after carbonation. The content of CaCO3 was increased after
treatment, especially in the group with CH treatment. The DTG test
was performed using a STA449C type comprehensive thermal ana-
lyzer with a heating rate of 10 /min. The test temperature was in
the range of 200-1000 , and the shielding gas was N2. As shown
in Fig. 6, after carbonation, the characteristic peak of Ca(OH)2 dis-
appeared, while the peak height of CaCO3 is significantly increased.
The characteristic peak of CaCO3 of CH-RA was 8.2% higher than
that of C-RA, which indicated that more carbonation products were
generated after the CH treatment. As shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the
CaCO3 content in W-RA and RW-RA was not obviously increased.
DTG test results showed that the content of CH in W-RA and
RW-RA was higher than that in N-RA, which was because CH prod-
ucts were produced from the hydration of the newly coated slurry.
3.2. Compressive strength
Fig. 7 shows the compressive strength of five types of recycled
concrete in 7, 28, 56, 84, 112 and 140 days. With the increase of
curing age, the compressive strength of recycled concrete prepared
from different aggregates all increased continuously, which was
due to the continuous hydration of the internal cement.
Compared with N-RC, C-RC, CH-RC, W-RC, and RW-RC at differ-
ent curing ages had increased the compressive strength by 7.8–
10.7%, 9.4–13.3%, 3.0–7.8%, and 6.8–9.9%, respectively. Overall,
the compressive strength of C-RC and CH-RC was greater than
those of W-RC and RW-RC. In addition, N-RC had lower compres-
sive strength than the other four types of samples, which was
mainly attributed to the intensity (crushing value) of recycled
aggregate and the actual effective water-cement ratio. Carbonation
reduced the crushing value of recycled aggregate and improved the
strength of aggregate, thus improving the strength of the recycled
concrete [3,16,17]. After CH impregnation, the performance of the
recycled aggregate was further improved, so the compressive
strength of recycled concrete was even higher. In the slurry wrap-
ping method, not only the pores and micro-cracks were filled, but
also the amount of actual cementitious materials was increased to
a certain extent. As a result, the mechanical properties of the recy-
cled concrete can be improved by the slurry wrapping.
In the mixing process, additional water was added to reduce the
problem of poor workability caused by high water absorption of
recycled aggregate. However, the added water was not completely
absorbed by the recycled aggregate within the mixing period of
approximately 3 min. In addition, it was more difficult for the recy-
cled aggregate to absorb water from the new cement paste than
pure water [37]. Thus, excessive additional water would be left
in the new cement paste and cause an increase of the effective
water-cement ratio. When a larger amount of water was added,
the effective water-cement ratio was higher, and the strength
was decreased even more.
3.3. Dynamic elastic modulus
Dynamic elastic modulus can be widely used to characterize the
internal damage of concrete, and evaluate the freeze-thaw resis-
tance of ordinary concrete [32]. Similar to ultrasonic sound veloc-
ity, dynamic elastic modulus can reflect the internal compactness
of the concrete through the transmission of characteristic waves.
The dynamic elastic modulus is mainly related to the internal
pores, interfacial characteristics, and micro-cracks of concrete,
which all affect the wave propagation. The dynamic elastic modu-
lus of five types of recycled concrete under different curing ages
was measured, as shown in Fig. 8. The hydration products of
cement can fill the interface area and part of the pore in the old
mortar, which gradually increases the density of the concrete.
Therefore, the dynamic elastic modulus of all the five types of recy-
cled concrete continuously increased with the curing age. At the

Table 5
Physical properties of recycled aggregate.

Indexes N-RA C-RA CH-RA W-RA RW-RA

Apparent density (kg/m3) 2573 2632 2659 2598 2613
Crushing value (%) 18.26 16.84 15.57 17.42 17.29
Water absorption (%) 4.93 4.25 3.91 4.64 4.52
 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366 7

42500 same curing age, the dynamic elastic modulus was changed in an
N-RC almost consistent trend with the compressive strength. The
C-RC dynamic elastic modulus of the five types of concretes can be
Dynamic elastic modulus (MPa)

40000 CH-RC ranked from high to low as follows: CH-RC > C-RC > RW-RC > W-
W-RC RC > N-RC. The dynamic elastic modulus was related to the appar-
RW-RC ent density of recycled aggregate and the actual effective water-
37500 cement ratio. Both carbonation and slurry wrapping treatment
can reduce the porosity of recycled aggregate, but the mechanisms
of both methods are different. In the carbonation treatment, the
35000 internal micro-porosity was filled by the products of chemical
reaction. In the slurry wrapping treatment, the porosity of old mor-
tar was reduced by slurry wrapping or infiltration. Slurry wrapping
32500 treatment increased the amount of cementitious materials to a cer-
tain extent, which improved the mechanical properties of the recy-
cled concrete, but the improvement was limited. Compared with
30000 slurry wrapping, carbonation caused a smaller increase in the
7 28 56 84 112 140 effective water-cement ratio. Therefore, using carbonation treat-
Ages (days) ment, the internal porosity of the recycled concrete was lower
and the dynamic elastic modulus was higher.
Fig. 8. Dynamic elastic modulus of recycled concrete.

3.4. Chloride ion penetration resistance

Fig. 9 shows the chloride ion migration coefficients of the five

types of recycled concrete at different curing ages. With the
30.0 increase of curing age, the chloride ion migration coefficient of dif-
ferent types of recycled concrete first decreased rapidly in the early
Chloride ion migration coefficient

25.0 N-RC stage, and then decreased slowly. This trend was similar to the
C-RC ordinary concrete and mainly related to the characteristics of
CH-RC hydration reaction of cementitious materials. Compared with N-
20.0
RC, the chloride ion migration coefficients of C-RC and CH-RC
(×10 -12m 2/s)

W-RC
decreased by 3.1–15.3% and 9.4–26.0%, separately.
15.0 RW-RC Unsurprisingly, both carbonation and slurry wrapping treat-
ment can improve the chloride ion penetration resistance. Mean-
10.0 while, the improvement by slurry wrapping treatment was more
remarkable, which was mainly related to the different penetration
paths of chloride ion into the recycled aggregate. The diagram of
5.0
seepage path is shown in Fig. 10. For permeability, the existence
of dense aggregate can block and twist harmful ions in their way
0.0 to pass through the concrete paste [17]. The carbonation product
7 28 56 84 112 140 filled the small pores inside the old mortar or reduced the internal
Ages (days) micro-cracks, resulting in an increase of the seepage radius. On the
other hand, the slurry wrapping treatment directly sealed the large
Fig. 9. Chloride ion migration coefficient of recycled concrete. pores on the surface and small pores of the old mortar. As a result,

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of seepage path of chloride ion into recycled aggregate Note: VA represents virgin aggregate; OM represents old mortar; CM represents
carbonated mortar; and WS represents wrapping slurry.
8 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366

600
Dry shrinkage rate (×10-6)

500

400

300 N-RC
C-RC
200 CH-RC
W-RC
100
RW-RC

0
0 14 28 42 56 70 84 98 112
Ages (days)
Fig. 11. Dry shrinkage rate of recycled concrete.
(a) 7d

the pore structure of the attached old mortar was greatly

improved, and the ion seepage radius was larger (R3 > R2 > R1).
Hence, the seepage path with the slurry wrapping treatment was
longer and more tortuous.

3.5. Dry shrinkage

The trend of the dry shrinkage rates over the curing age for the
five types of recycled concrete is shown in Fig. 11. The shrinkage
value increased rapidly in the early period and tended to be stable
after 56 days. At 112 days, the dry shrinkages of C-RC and CH-RC
were smaller than that of N-RC by 9.6% and 13.5%, respectively.
In addition, after the carbonation treatment, the dry shrinkage
resistance of recycled concrete was improved. Carbonation
improved the quality of aggregate, compressive strength of recy-
cled concrete, and restrained the shrinkage of cement paste. More-
over, the CH-RA had a better quality than C-RA. Thus CH-RA had
better drying shrinkage resistance than C-RA. Some of the dry (b) 28d
shrinkage was due to the self-shrinkage of cement slurry, while
the total amount of cement paste increased after wrapping.
Accordingly, W-RC and RW-RC had significantly higher dry shrink-
age rate than C-RC and CH-RC. In addition, the dry shrinkage rate of
W-RC was higher than that of RW-RC, which indicated that the
micro-expansibility of hydration products of the sprayed concrete
accelerator did not have a notable compensation effect on the
shrinkage performance of the recycled concrete.

3.6. Vickers hardness of ITZs

The Vickers hardness test for the five types of recycled concrete
was performed at the curing ages of 7, 28, 140 days. The results are
shown in Fig. 12(a), (b) and (c), respectively. From Fig. 12, the Vick-
ers hardness of the old mortar was greater than that of the old ITZ,
regardless of the age, which was mainly due to more pores and ori-
ented arrangement of CH in the ITZ [21,36]. Moreover, there was a
similar relationship between the new mortar and the new ITZ.
The width of the old ITZ was about 40–60 lm, which was
(c) 140d
almost consistent with the results obtained by Zhang et al. [37]
using a nanoindenter. The width of the new ITZ was about 30– Fig. 12. Vickers hardness in different regions of recycled concrete.
50 lm, which was slightly smaller than that of the old ITZ. During
decades of service, the old concrete often suffers from various
external deterioration factors, causing the interface area to be
weaker and wider. It should be noted that when the water- the fresh cement slurry were integrated, and the hardness of the
binder ratio was 1.0, the thickness of the coated slurry was approx- coated slurry was not significantly different from that of the fresh
imately 35 lm [22]. Based on the test results, the coated slurry and cement slurry.
 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366 9

Old ITZ New ITZ recycled aggregate used in this study was derived from the aban-
12.0 doned concrete construction waste, in which the cement was com-
pletely hydrated and often subject to various factors in the service
10.0 process. The performance of abandoned concrete was seriously
The strength of ITZ (MPa)

deteriorated and the interface was vulnerable. In addition, in this

study, the strength of the concrete reached 35 MPa after 7 days,
8.0
and reached the C40 strength grade after 28 days. On the other
hand, the strength of the concrete in literature [35] was only
6.0 C20. Therefore, the relative strength between the new ITZ and
the old ITZ depended on the matching between the aggregate qual-
4.0 ity and the strength grade of prepared recycled concrete to some
extent.
The strength of the old ITZ for different types of recycled con-
2.0
crete can be ranked from high to low as follows: CH-RC > C-
RC > RW-RC > W-RC > N-RC. The main reasons for the order of the
0.0 strength under different treatment methods include: (1) Carbona-
tion consumed oriented CH, and the product filled the pore; (2) CH
RC 0d
d
C- -7d

C- d
d
-R 28d
-R 7d

-R 8d

0d
R W C- d
-R d

RW C- d

RC 8d
RC d
-R d

C- -28

-R 140
-R 40
-R 40
CH -7

-R 8
N- C-7
W C-7

C- -14
RW C-

CH C-2

14
W C-2

N- C-2

impregnation caused the old interface to be filled by ‘‘calcium” and

RC
RC

CH -1

W C-1
R
N-

produced more products under the CO2 environment, which made

the interface more compact; (3) During the coating process, a small
amount of gelled particles penetrated into the old interface
Fig. 13. Strength of new ITZ and old ITZ of recycled concrete.

For the comparative analysis, the micro-hardness at different

Old ITZ-7d Old ITZ-28d Old ITZ-140d
points in the interface was averaged and converted into strength
New ITZ-7d New ITZ-28d New ITZ-140d
values, as shown in Fig. 13. At different curing ages, the strength
11.0 12.0
of the old ITZ was lower than that of the new one for all the five
R 2 = 0.0956
types of recycled concrete. The reason was that the recycled aggre- R 2 = 0.0544
The strength of old ITZ (MPa)

The strength of new ITZ (MPa)

gates from the construction waste disturbed the old ITZ during the 10.0 R 2 = 0.0935 10.0
preparation process, making the interface more fragile. Simultane-
ously, in this study, the virgin aggregate was mostly pebbles with 9.0 8.0
smooth and dense surface, which resulted in the serious ‘‘water
film effect” in the hardening process of original concrete. Thus 8.0 6.0
there were more pores and apparent orientation arrangement of
CH in the old ITZ. Consequently, the bonding with the old mortar
7.0 4.0
was weak. Furthermore, during the setting and curing of recycled
concrete, the local water-cement ratio on the surface of the aggre- R2 = 0.9268
gate was reduced due to the continuous water absorption of recy- 6.0 2.0
R 2 = 0.9516
cled aggregate, which resulted in the increase of the interfacial R 2 = 0.8846
strength. 5.0 0.0
The results in this study were not consistent with the results in 30000 32500 35000 37500 40000 42500
literature [35], which were mainly due to the differences in the Dynamic elastic modulus (MPa)
quality of recycled aggregate and the strength grade of recycled
concrete. The recycled aggregate in literature [35] was obtained Fig. 15. Relationship between strength of ITZ and dynamic elastic modulus.
from indoor concrete test blocks with good quality. However, the

Old ITZ-7d Old ITZ-28d Old ITZ-140d

Old ITZ-7d Old ITZ-28d Old ITZ-140d
New ITZ-7d New ITZ-28d New ITZ-140d
New ITZ-7d New ITZ-28d New ITZ-140d
11.0 12.0
11.0 12.0 R 2 = 0.8994
The strength of old ITZ (MPa)

R 2 = 0.1159 R 2 = 0.9604
The strength of new ITZ (MPa)

R2 = 0.0545
The strength of new ITZ (MPa)

10.0 10.0
The strength of old ITZ (MPa)

10.0 R2 = 0.0943 10.0 R 2 = 0.8981

9.0 8.0
9.0 8.0
8.0 6.0
8.0 6.0
7.0 4.0
7.0 4.0
6.0 R 2 = 0.1253 2.0
6.0 R2 = 0.9484 2.0 R 2 = 0.023 R 2 = 0.0447
R 2 = 0.8616 R 2 = 0.96 5.0 0.0
5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0
30.0 35.0 40.0 45.0 50.0 55.0 60.0 Chloride ion migration coefficeient (×10-12m 2/s)
Compressive strength (MPa)
Fig. 16. Relationship between strength of ITZ and chloride ion migration
Fig. 14. Relationship between strength of ITZ and compressive strength. coefficient.
10 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366

Holes Old ITZ

Old ITZ

VA Old mortar
VA
Old mortar

(a) Old ITZ in N-RC (b) Old ITZ in C-RC

Old mortar

Old ITZ
VA

Old ITZ
VA
Old mortar

(c) Old ITZ in CH-RC (d) Old ITZ in W-RC

New ITZ
VA
Old mortar

Old ITZ

Old mortar New mortar

(e) Old ITZ in RW-RC (f) New ITZ in N-RC

New mortar

New mortar
New ITZ
Old mortar Old mortar

New ITZ

(g) New ITZ in C-RC (h) New ITZ in CH-RC

New ITZ New ITZ

New mortar

New mortar
Old mortar
Old mortar

(i) New ITZ in W-RC (j) New ITZ in RW-RC

Fig. 17. Micro-structures of old and new ITZs in RC with different types of RA.
 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366
through the micro-cracks, and underwent hydration reaction or
reacted with the CH accumulated in the old interface [38]. Because
of the above reasons, the enhanced interface can be achieved. As
the cementitious particles were finer (specific surface area: accel-
erator > fly ash > cement), the penetration effect was more pro-
nounced. Hence, with the increase of the curing age, the strength
of the old ITZ of W-RC and RW-RC slightly increased. However,
for N-RC, C-RC, and CH-RC, the strength of old mortar and old ITZ
did not change with curing age, which was consistent with the
results in literature [37]. After decades of hydration reaction, the
cement in the old mortar almost reacts completely, so the strength
of the old ITZ might have little change.
The micro-structural characteristics of the new ITZ were corre-
lated with the strength or the effective water-cement ratio of the
new mortar [39]. As a result, at the same curing age, the strength
of the new interface was in the following order: CH-RC > C-
RC > N-RC. In addition, the strength of the new interface for all
the types of recycle concrete increased with the extension of the
curing age (see Fig. 12 and Fig. 13). Compared with N-RC, W-RC
had higher interfacial strength, which was attribute to not only
the finer particles and better filling effect of the new slurry, but
also a larger amount of C-S-H produced by the pozzolanic effect
of fly ash. The produced C-S-H can enhance the strength of ITZ.
In comparison with W-RC, a micro-expansive substance was also
formed in the reaction of RW-RC, which generated local internal
stress in the ITZ and caused a significant increase in the interfacial
strength. The strength of the new ITZ of W-RC and RW-RC was
greater than that of C-RC and CH-RC. Compared with C-RC, W-RC
and RW-RC had slightly larger effective water-cement ratio and
lower new interface strength. However, the slurry contained fly
ash and accelerator, which can fill the cracks and pores and
strengthen the new interface. According to the experimental data,
for W-RC and RW-RC, the weakening effect of the effective water-
cement ratio was less than the invigoration effect of the filling of
cracks and pores.
3.7. Correlation analysis
The strength of ITZs could affect the macroscopic compressive
strength, the dynamic elastic modulus, and the chloride ion migra-
tion coefficient of the recycled concrete. In this section, the corre-
lations were analyzed and shown in Fig. 14, Fig. 15, and Fig. 16. It
should be noted that the specimens used in the micro-hardness
test and the dry shrinkage test had different curing conditions
and test ages, thus the corresponding indicators were not included
in the correlation analyses.
The failure of recycled concrete often occurs due to the recycled
aggregate, especially in the interface area [10,40]. From Fig. 14, the
correlation between the compressive strength and the strength for
the old ITZ was stronger than that for the new ITZ, which indicated
that the old ITZ had a greater impact on the mechanical properties
of recycled concrete. From Fig. 12, when the specimens were
pressed, the old ITZ was the weakest. Therefore, the quality of
the old interface determined the strength of the recycled concrete.
From Fig. 15, the relationship between dynamic elastic modulus
and interfacial strength was similar to that between compressive
strength and interfacial strength. The similar trend of the curves
was mainly because as the indicators of the concrete mechanical
properties, both dynamic elastic modulus and compressive
strength were correlated to a certain extent [30,41,42]. Generally
speaking, the properties of old mortar play a critical role in the
chloride penetration resistance of recycled concrete. However,
from Fig. 16, the new ITZ strength and chloride ion migration coef-
ficient lies in good correlation. Thus, the characteristics of the new
11
interface of recycled aggregate with different treatments also had a
relatively significant influence on the chloride penetration
resistance.
3.8. SEM analysis
The interface morphology of five types of recycled concrete was
tested with the magnification of 500, as shown in Fig. 17. The SEM
images of the old and new ITZs in the recycled concrete are shown
in Fig. 17(a)–(e) and (f)–(j), respectively.
From Fig. 17(a), in the untreated recycled aggregate, the old ITZ
had obvious cracks and the old mortar had larger holes, which
were closely related to the poor mechanical properties and dura-
bility of N-RC. After carbonation, the old ITZ was much tighter
and the width of micro-crack was decreased. In addition, the sur-
face voids of old mortar were reduced and the mortar became rel-
atively dense, as shown in Fig. 17(b). For CH-RC treated with
additional alkali and carbonation, no micro-cracks were observed
in Fig. 17(c). Compared with C-RC, the old ITZ was more compact
and the porosity of the old mortar was further reduced, which
was related to the larger amount of carbonation products. Fig. 17
(d) and (e) show the old ITZ of recycled concrete after different
slurry wrapping treatments. Compared with carbonation, slurry
wrapping slightly improved the old interface. After slurry wrap-
ping treatment, the micro-cracks were still observable at the inter-
face, but the micro-cracks were much smaller than those in N-RC.
Similarly, from Fig. 17(f), there were large weak areas in the new
ITZ between new and old mortar of N-RC. For C-RC and CH-RC,
the new interface was improved to some extent, and the improve-
ment for CH-RC was more obvious than that for C-RC (Fig. 17(g)
and (h)). Fig. 17(i) shows that after slurry wrapping treatment,
the new interface was filled with superimposed hydration prod-
ucts, the micro-cracks disappeared and the interface strength
was enhanced. As shown in Fig. 17(j), the new ITZ in RW-RC was
denser than that in W-RC, indicating that adding accelerator can
optimize the interface of coating paste, which was consistent with
the results of the micro-hardness test. For the recycled concrete
treated by slurry wrapping, the interface between the slurry wrap-
ping layer and the new mortar was not observed, which proved
that the slurry wrapped was integrated with the new mortar.
4. Conclusions
Based on the experimental results and relevant analysis in this
study, the following conclusions can be obtained:
(1) All of the four types of aggregate treatment methods
strengthened the recycled aggregate to some extent. The
strengthening effect of different treatment methods was in
the following order: CH-RA > C-RA > RW-RA > W-RA > N-
RA. Compared with C-RA, CH impregnation treatment can
cause the attached mortar on the recycled aggregate to be
more compacted after carbonation. The slurry wrapping
method mainly had the effect of ‘‘filling” and ‘‘sealing pores”
but provided less improvement on the mechanical proper-
ties of aggregate.
(2) Compared with N-RC, the compressive strength of C-RC, CH-
RC, W-RC, and RW-RC were increased by 7.8–10.7%, 9.4–
13.3%, 3.0–7.8% and 6.8–9.9%, respectively. The compressive
strength of the carbonated recycled aggregate concrete was
greater than that of wrapping-treated recycled aggregate
concrete. The difference in the compressive strength
between the two treatment methods mainly depended on
the quality of recycled aggregate. With different aggregate
12 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366
treatment methods, both the dynamic elastic modulus and
the compressive strength of the recycled concrete had simi-
lar trends.
(3) Compared with N-RC, the chloride ion migration coefficient
of C-RC, CH-RC, W-RC, and RW-RC decreased by 3.1–15.3%,
9.4–26.0%, 15.5–32.5% and 24.4–37.7%, respectively. The
effect of slurry wrapping treatment on the penetration resis-
tance of recycled concrete was better than that of carbona-
tion treatment. The carbonation reaction increased the
density of the interior of the old mortar, prolonged the seep-
age path, and hindered the penetration of chloride ion. In
contrast, the slurry wrapping treatment filled the surface
pore of the old mortar, enlarged the infiltration radius, and
resulted in a more tortuous seepage path of harmful ions.
(4) When the carbonated aggregate had better quality, the
restraint effect on dry shrinkage of recycled concrete was
observed to be more obvious, and the CH-RC had a more
prominent restraint effect than C-RC. Compared with car-
bonation, slurry wrapping treatment had little improvement
on the anti-drying property of recycled concrete. Even if the
sprayed concrete accelerator was added to the slurry, the
overall shrinkage resistance of the recycled concrete was
not significantly improved.
(5) The carbonation treatment had a better effect on the old
interfacial transition zones (ITZ) than that on the new ITZ,
while slurry wrapping treatment had the opposite effect
on both ITZs. In addition, adding the accelerator with
micro-expansion characteristics in slurry can increase the
strength of new ITZ more significantly. The old interface
had a significant effect on the compressive strength and
dynamic elastic modulus, while the new interface treated
with different aggregate strengthening methods had a non-
negligible influence on the chloride ion migration coeffi-
cient. The degree of matching between the quality of the
aggregate and the strength grade of the produced recycled
concrete determined the relative strength of the old and
new ITZs to some extent.
Unsurprisingly, ‘‘carbonation” improved the mechanical prop-
erties and dry shrinkage resistance of recycled concrete more
outstandingly, while ‘‘slurry wrapping” ameliorated the perme-
ability resistance chloride ion more conspicuously. The two opti-
mized strategies proposed for both treatment methods have
further enhanced the quality of recycled aggregate and the per-
formance of recycled concrete. The recycled aggregate produced
by the construction waste treatment plant often comes from
waste concrete. The CH impregnation treatment prior to the car-
bonation treatment can supplement carbonable material and
improve the strengthening effect on the aggregate. When the
slurry wrapping method was used, a certain amount of sprayed
concrete accelerator with better economy should be added to
fully enhance the interfacial strength and promote the durability
of recycled concrete. Overall, compared with slurry wrapping,
carbonation treatment takes a relatively long time but provides
more effective improvement on the performance of recycled
aggregate. Therefore, carbonation treatment promotes the appli-
cation of recycled concrete in practical engineering, and reduces
the damage of C&D waste to the environment.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from
the National Key Research and Development Program of China
(2018YFB1600302). The authors would also like to thank Beijing
Urban Green Source Environmental Protection Technology Co.,
Ltd. for providing recycled coarse aggregates for the experiments.
References
[1] X.P. Li, Recycling and reuse of waste concrete in China Part I. Material
behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete, Resour. Conser. Recycl. 53 (2008)
36–44.
[2] L. Zheng, H.Y. Wu, H. Zhang, H.B. Duan, J.Y. Wang, W.P. Jiang, B.Q. Dong, G. Liu,
J. Zuo, Q.B. Song, Characterizing the generation and flows of construction and
demolition waste in China, Constr. Build. Mater. 136 (2017) 405–413.
[3] J.W. Ying, Q.J. Meng, J.Z. Xiao, Effect of CO2-modified recycled aggregate on
compressive strength of concrete, J. Build. Mater. 20 (2017) 277–282.
[4] C. Thomas, J. Setién, J.A. Polanco, Structural recycled aggregate concrete made
with precast wastes, Constr. Build. Mater. 114 (2016) 536–546.
[5] C.S. Poon, Z.H. Shui, L. Lam, H. Fok, S.C. Kou, Influence of moisture states of
natural and recycled aggregates on the slump and compressive strength of
concrete, Cem. Concr. Res. 34 (2004) 31–36.
[6] J.M. Abdalhmid, A.F. Ashour, T. Sheehan, Long-term drying shrinkage of self-
compacting concrete: Experimental and analytical investigations, Constr.
Build. Mater. 202 (2019) 825–837.
[7] H.R. Zhang, T. Ji, X.P. Zeng, Z.X. Yang, X.J. Lin, Y.N. Liang, Mechanical behavior of
ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) using recycled fine aggregate cured
under different conditions and the mechanism based on integrated
microstructural parameters, Constr. Build. Mater. 192 (2018) 489–507.
[8] F. Kazemian, H. Rooholamini, A. Hassani, Mechanical and fracture properties of
concrete containing treated and untreated recycled concrete aggregates,
Constr. Build. Mater. 209 (2019) 690–700.
[9] Q.Q. Li, Q.Y. Li, G.B. Yue, S. Gao, Determination of recycled coarse aggregate
mortar content and research on aggregate lifting technology, Bull. Chin. Ceram.
Soc. 36 (2017) 3422–3425.
[10] G. Dimitriou, P. Savva, M.F. Petrou, Enhancing mechanical and durability
properties of recycled aggregate concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 158 (2018)
228–235.
[11] J.S. Qiu, D.Q.S. Tng, E.H. Yang, Surface treatment of recycled concrete
aggregates through microbial carbonate precipitation, Constr. Build. Mater.
57 (2014) 144–150.
[12] V. Spaeth, A.D. Tegguer, Improvement of recycled concrete aggregate
properties by polymer treatments, Int. J. Sustain. Built Environ. 2 (2013)
143–152.
[13] S. Ismail, M. Ramli, Mechanical strength and drying shrinkage properties of
concrete containing treated coarse recycled concrete aggregates, Constr. Build.
Mater. 68 (2014) 726–739.
[14] A. Akbarnezhad, K.C.G. Ong, M.H. Zhang, C.T. Tam, T.W.J. Foo, Microwave-
assisted beneficiation of recycled concrete aggregates, Constr. Build. Mater. 25
(2011) 3469–3479.
[15] V.W.Y. Tam, A. Butera, K.N. Le, Carbon-conditioned recycled aggregate in
concrete production, J. Clean. Prod. 133 (2016) 672–680.
[16] S.C. Kou, B.J. Zhan, C.S. Poon, Use of a CO2 curing step to improve the properties
of concrete prepared with recycled aggregates, Cem. Concr. Compos. 45 (2014)
22–28.
[17] D.X. Xuan, B.J. Zhan, C.S. Poon, Durability of recycled aggregate concrete
prepared with carbonated recycled concrete aggregates, Cem. Concr. Compos.
84 (2017) 214–221.
[18] J.K. Zhang, C.J. Shi, Y.K. Li, X.Y. Pan, C.S. Poon, Z.B. Xie, Influence of carbonated
recycled concrete aggregate on properties of cement mortar, Constr. Build.
Mater. 98 (2015) 1–7.
[19] C.J. Shi, Y.K. Li, J.K. Zhang, W.G. Li, L.L. Chong, Z.B. Xie, Performance
enhancement of recycled concrete aggregate – a review, J. Clean. Prod. 112
(2016) 466–472.
[20] H.L. Ho, R. Huang, W.T. Lin, A. Cheng, Pore-structures and durability of
concrete containing pre-coated fine recycled mixed aggregates using pozzolan
and polyvinyl alcohol materials, Constr. Build. Mater. 160 (2018) 278–292.
[21] D.Y. Kong, T. Lei, J.J. Zheng, C.C. Ma, J. Jiang, J. Jiang, Effect and mechanism of
surface-coating pozzalanics materials around aggregate on properties and ITZ
microstructure of recycled aggregate concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 24 (2010)
701–708.
[22] Z.H. Zhao, S.D. Wang, L.C. Lu, C.C. Gong, Evaluation of pre-coated recycled
aggregate for concrete and mortar, Constr. Build. Mater. 43 (2013) 191–196.
[23] L. Guo, Z.L. Xue, S.K. Chen, C.Y. Chang, Experimental study on the performance
of recycled aggregate concrete based on pre-mixing thick cement paste
method, J. Build. Mater. 20 (2017) 950–955.
[24] Common Portland Cement, GB 175-2007, General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China,
Beijing, P.R. China, 2007.
[25] Fly Ash Used for Cement and Concrete, GB/T 1596-2005, General
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the
People’s Republic of China, Beijing, P.R. China, 2005.
 J. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 234 (2020) 117366
[26] Stand for Technical Requirements and Test Method of Sand and Crushed Stone
(or gravel) for ordinary concrete, JGJ52-2006, Ministry of Construction of the
People’s Republic of China, Beijing, P.R. China, 2006.
[27] Recycled coarse aggregate for concrete, GB/T 25177-2010, General
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the
People’s Republic of China, Beijing, P.R. China, 2010.
[28] H.L. Wang, N. Zhang, Assessment of treated recycled concrete aggregates on
the properties of recycled-aggregate-self-compacting concrete, J. Harbin Inst.
Technol. 48 (2016) 150–156.
[29] M.Z. Lan, X.Y. Wang, J.F. Wang, J.Q. Wang, S.Y. Zhang, Y.Z. Ding, Comparison of
sulphoaluminate-based strength-promoting and shrinkage-reducing
admixture with sulphoaluminate cement, Bull. Chin. Ceram. Soc. 36 (2017)
2054–2058.
[30] J.X. Zhang, J.G. Wang, X.H. Li, T.J. Zhou, Y.Y. Guo, Rapid-hardening controlled
low strength materials made of recycled fine aggregate from construction and
demolition waste, Constr. Build. Mater. 173 (2018) 81–89.
[31] Test Methods of Cement and Concrete for Highway Engineering, JTG E30-2005,
Ministry of Communications of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, P.R.
China, 2005.
[32] Standard for Test Methods of Long-Term Performance and Durability of
Ordinary Concrete, GB/T 50082-2009, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural
Development of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, P.R. China, 2009.
[33] Y. Xu, Y.L. Wong, C.S. Poon, M. Anson, Impact of high temperature on PFA
concrete, Cem. Concr. Res. 31 (2001) 1065–1073.
13
[34] N. Otsuki, M. ASCE, S. Miyazato, W. Yodsudjai, Influence of recycled aggregate
on interfacial transition zone, strength, chloride penetration and carbonation
of concrete, J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 15 (2003) 443–451.
[35] Y.X. Zhao, W.L. Zeng, H.R. Zhang, Properties of recycled aggregate concrete
with different water control methods, Constr. Build. Mater. 152 (2017) 539–
546.
[36] W.G. Li, J.Z. Xiao, Z.H. Sun, S. Kawashima, S.P. Shah, Interfacial transition zones
in recycled aggregate concrete with different mixing approaches, Constr. Build.
Mater. 35 (2012) 1045–1055.
[37] H.R. Zhang, Y.X. Zhao, Integrated interface parameters of recycled aggregate
concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 101 (2015) 861–877.
[38] A.S. Brand, J.R. Roesler, A. Salas, Initial moisture and mixing effects on higher
quality recycled coarse aggregate concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 79 (2015) 83–
89.
[39] A. Djerbi, Effect of recycled coarse aggregate on the new interfacial transition
zone concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 190 (2018) 1023–1033.
[40] V. Corinaldesi, G. Moriconi, Behaviour of cementitious mortars containing
different kinds of recycled aggregate, Constr. Build. Mater. 23 (2009) 289–294.
[41] H.Y. Wang, A study of the engineering properties of waste LCD glass applied to
controlled low strength materials concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 23 (2009)
2127–2131.
[42] T.Y. Murat, M.A. Ali, R. Kambiz, Freeze-thaw resistance, mechanical and
transport properties of self-consolidating concrete incorporating coarse
recycled concrete aggregate, Mater. Des. 53 (2014) 983–991.