Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Properties of concrete containing strengthened crushed brick aggregate

by pozzolan slurry
Jian Yang a,b,⇑, Wafaa Mohamed Shaban a, Khalid Elbaz c, Blessen Skariah Thomas a,b, Jianhe Xie d,
Lijuan Li d
a
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
b
School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
c
State Key Laboratory of Intelligence Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, and College of Engineering, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China
d
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 An environmental friendly technique for improving the properties of BAC was proposed.
 Soaking CBA with pozzolan slurry efficiently improved the performance of BAC.
 The pozzolanic reaction around CBA effectively strengthen the porous CBA surface.
 The relations among mechanical and durability properties of BAC were established.

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

Article history: Using crushed brick as a coarse aggregate to produce a new environmentally friendly recycled concrete is
Received 9 October 2019 of particular interest to maintain natural aggregate (NA) and realize waste resources recycling. However,
Received in revised form 25 February 2020 the low density and high porosity of crushed brick, as well as its relatively low compressive strength in
Accepted 27 February 2020
comparison with NA make it difficult to meet conventional concrete specifications. The present study is
Available online 6 March 2020
an effort to investigate the properties of strengthened crushed brick aggregate (CBA) by various pozzolan
slurries and experimentally evaluate the strength and durability properties of the concrete prepared
Keywords:
using 100% treated CBA. The experimental results revealed that the porous structure of CBA together with
Crushed brick
Recycling
the attached weak adhered mortar result in the decline of the physical and mechanical properties of CBA.
Concrete The proposed treatment technique not only enhanced the CBA quality but also achieved concretes with
Strengthening better mechanical strength and higher resistance against chloride ion migration. Compared with natural
Pozzolan slurry aggregate concrete, the loss of compressive strength was 12–25%, flexural strength was 9–22%, and mod-
Durability ulus of elasticity was 16–30% of the concrete containing treated CBA at 28 days curing age. Based on SEM
Surface improvement observations, the surface of CBA and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the cement paste and
CBA were improved for the concrete treated by pozzolan slurries.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction of C&D wastes has become a substantial aspect of the current

Recently, heated attention has been focused on the continued
rising of construction and demolition (C&D) waste under circum-
stances of great imbalance between supply and demand of natural
aggregates due to the stringent environmental policies and C&D
waste could be a good option as substitute. Finding economic
and environmentally friendly approaches to manage the disposal
⇑ Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
E-mail address: j.yang.1@sjtu.edu.cn (J. Yang).
development towards a sustainable environment [11,15]. The use
of crushed brick as a concrete aggregate essentially decreases a
large amount of C&D waste as well as the demand for natural
aggregate (NA) in a sustainable approach [1,2]. However, the lack
of knowledge on the performance of concrete incorporating waste
crushed brick is a barrier to reuse it in concrete [17]. Several stud-
ies [18–24] have been found to study the possibility of using
crushed brick aggregate (CBA) as a coarse aggregate in concrete.
Results showed that CBA is more porous and weaker compared
with NA. Using CBA in concrete leads to low workability of fresh
concrete because of its porous structure and higher water

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.118612
0950-0618/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612

absorption [10,25] and adversely affects the mechanical and dura- 100
bility properties of concrete [26,27]. Most studies revealed that the
use of CBA as a replacement of NA results in a reduction up to 35%
and 11% of compressive strength and flexural tensile strength, 80
respectively [7]. Investigators have pointed out that the porous

Percentage of passing (%)

nature of CBA might have increased water consumption and
reduced the water to cement ratio in the mix design, resulting in 60
the compressive strength reduction [9]. Bektas et al. [3,4] and
Cachim [5] reported that there is no obvious adverse influence
on the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of con-
40
crete congaing 20% brick aggregate. Yang et al. [23] also stated that
the flexural strength is not affected with 50% replacement ratio of
coarse brick aggregate. Adamson et al. [21] observed that the chlo-
20
ride ion penetration resistance of brick aggregate concrete (BAC)
CBA
decreased with increasing the brick content. This was mainly due
NA
to the high porosity of the CBA. These findings agreed with Yang Sand
0
et al. [23] that the obvious durability decreasing of BAC with 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
increasing the brick aggregate content in concrete.
Sieve size (mm)
According to the aforementioned studies, it can be observed
that most of the previous researches studied the effect of using Fig. 2. Particle size distributions of coarse and fine aggregates.
CBA as a replacement of NA on concrete performance. The applica-
tion of the pozzolan slurry soaking technique to enhance the CBA
quality before adding it in the concrete mix has seldom been con- Table 1
sidered. If the proposed treatment technique can be assured to Chemical compositions of the used materials (%).
enhance efficiently the CBA quality. This technique will add value Materials CaO SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 SO3 Na2O
to the CBA and promote its using in many construction applica-
Cement 64.79 18.48 6.25 6.09 1.80 0.22
tions. In addition, it enhances a simple and appropriate method Fly ash 6.06 47.25 31.94 8.04 0.51 0.47
of using 100% CBA to produce concrete without changing the mix- Silica fume 1.47 95.26 1.44 0.39 0.12 0.11
ing procedures from the normal case. Nano-silica fume 0.66 97.99 0.22 0.14 0.38 0.34
The present study proposes an environmentally friendly
approach to enhance the CBA quality and improve the performance
of resultant concrete. Soaking CBA in different treated pozzolan ing the CBA surface through the proposed technique as explained
slurries, i.e., fly ash with silica fume, fly ash with cement, and in the experimental program section. Natural crushed granite
nano-silica fume, through which the porous structure of CBA can aggregate (NA) was used for the comparison and the specimen
be modified. The physical, mechanical, and microstructure proper- preparation. The different types of coarse aggregate used in this
ties of CBA prior to and after treatment were observed. The work- study have 20.0 mm maximum size while the fine aggregate (nat-
ability, mechanical and durability properties of the treated BAC as ural sand) particles have 5.0 mm maximum size. Fig. 2 displays the
well as the microstructure with particular focus on ITZ were exam- sieve analysis of the fine aggregate, NA and CBA according to BS
ined and compared. In addition to the determination of mechanical 812–103.1. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with grade 42.5 was
properties, reliable relationships between various mechanical used with the pozzolanic materials for treating the CBA and as
properties of BAC were also established. the main binder for mixing the concrete. The chemical composi-
tions of the Portland cement and the treated pozzolanic materials
2. Materials are summarized in Table 1.

In the present study, the used crushed brick aggregate (CBA) is

restored from construction and demolished (C&D) concrete wastes.
Fig. 1 display the visual image of CBA with the adhered mortar.
Two types of coarse CBA were used, i.e., untreated and treated
CBA. The treated CBA was prepared by strengthening and improv-
Crushed brick
aggregate
Attached weak
adhered mortar
Fig. 1. Crushed brick aggregate and attached weak adhered mortar.
3. Experimental program
3.1. Surface treatment technique for CBA
The different treated pozzolan slurries, i.e., fly ash with silica
fume (FA&SF), fly ash with cement (FA&C), and nano-silica fume
(NSF) were used to improve and strengthen the CBA surface. For
FA&SF and FA&C slurries, the pozzolanic materials were equally
used with a dosage percentage of 40% of the total weight of CBA.
Whereas for NSF slurry, NSF was used with 3% replacement ratio
of FA&C slurry to gain the economic goal. For all the treated poz-
zolan slurries, the binder-to-water ratio is specified at 1:5. To form
the treated slurries, the pozzolanic materials was mixed with
water (twice CBA weight) for 2–3 min. After that, CBA was soaked
in the prepared slurries for 4 h. Then, CBA was taken away from the
slurry and dried for 3 days at the ambient temperature. Lastly, the
excessive loose materials were removed from the hardened CBA by
sieving process. The proposed surface treatment process with dif-
ferent pozzolan slurries for CBA is shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 displays
the CBA before and after applying the proposed treatment
technique.
 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612 3

FA&SF Mixing
Pozzolanic Soaking Drying RCA treated with
FA&C materials different pozzolanic
2 min Water 4h 20°C materials
NSF slurries
CBA

Fig. 3. Surface treatment process for CBA with pozzolanic materials.

(a) Crushed brick aggregate (CBA) (b) FA&SF treated CBA

(c) FA&C treated CBA (d) NSF treated CBA

Fig. 4. CBA before and after surface treatment process.

3.2. Mixing proportions

Table 2
According to the British method for designing the concrete Details of mixture proportions (Kg/m3).
mixes, all the concrete mixtures were designed with 0.48 w/c ratio. Samples Water Cement Sand Coarse NA Coarse CBA
To achieve 30 MPa compressive strength at 28 days, five concrete
NAC 210 437 663 1230 –
mixtures were designed based on the coarse aggregate type, which BAC 210 437 509 – 944
are (i) specimens type NAC were prepared using only NA; (ii) spec- BACFA&SF 210 437 526 – 977
imens type BAC composed of untreated CBA: (iii) specimens type BACFA&C 210 437 535 – 993
BACFA&SF consisting of treated CBA by FA&SF slurry. (iv) specimens BACNSF 210 437 533 – 990

type BACFA&C composed of strengthened CBA by FA&C slurry. (v)
specimens type BACNSF consisting of strengthened CBA by NSF
slurry. The itemized mix design and material proportions for all
the concrete specimens are shown in Table 2.
3.3. Specimen preparation
All the concrete mixtures were mixed in compliance with the
sequence specified in BS1881-125. The concrete specimens were
casted into different molds. All the molds were stored for one
The values of NA, untreated CBA, and treated CBA are under SSD condition.
day at the ambient temperature. One day after casting, the con-
crete specimens were removed from the molds and cured in the
water curing tank at 20 °C ± 2 °C according to BS 1881-111.
3.4. Testing methods
The physical properties of untreated and treated CBA were
measured according to BS 812 part 2. The abrasions, impact and
4 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612

crushing values for CBA were also measured according to ASTM C
13-03, BS 812-112 and BS 812-110, respectively. The workability
of concrete was measured by slump test in compliance with BS
1881–102-83. The compressive strength was specified accordance
with BS 1881-116 and conducted on 100 mm cube specimens. The
flexural strength was conducted on the prism concrete specimens
with a dimension of 100  100  400 mm and determined in
accordance with BS 1881-118. The elastic modulus was carried
out on cylinder specimens of U150  300 mm and measured
according to ASTM C469. The chloride ion migration test was con-
ducted on U100  50 mm cylinder specimens and determined
based on NT BUILD 492. The X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and
scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy
(SEM-EDS) were conducted to study the chemical and mineral
composition as well as the microstructure of CBA surface and BAC.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Physical and mechanical properties of CBA
The physical properties of NA, untreated CBA, and treated CBA
by using pozzolan slurries are summarized in Table 3. The particle
densities; oven-dried, saturated and surface-dried, and apparent
density of untreated CBA decreased by 31.25%, 24.57%, and
14.78%, respectively when compared with that of NA. In addition,
the water absorption of CBA was found to be 10.28%, which was
higher than that of NA (about 0.5%). The existing of porous adhered
mortar in CBA and the porous structure of CBA reduce the particle
densities and increase the water absorption and porosity of CBA.
After conducting the proposed technique, the pozzolanic materials
have efficiently strengthened the CBA surface, in which increase
the density and decrease the water absorption of CBA. The poz-
zolanic reaction produces new hydrated products e.g., hydrated
calcium silicate (C-S-H) gel. These products effectively fill up the
pores in CBA, resulting in a much denser CBA surface. Treated
CBA by FA&SF, FA&C, and NSF slurries achieved a good influence,
which increased the particle densities up to 3%, 7%, and 8%, respec-
tively, and reduced the water absorption by 5%, 16%, and 30%,
respectively, compared with untreated CBA.
The porous adhered mortar around CBA may be also the proba-
ble reason for the inferiority of CBA, in terms of resistance to abra-
sion, impact, and crushing, as shown in Fig. 5. The results were
presented as a percentage and the stronger aggregates that have
a less percentage value. The experimental results specified that
the abrasion value of NA is 17.33% and for CBA is 48.67%. As well,
the impact and crushing values of NA were 12.5% and 20.82%,
respectively, and for CBA were 44.06% and 40.52%, respectively.
After surface treatment, the resistance to abrasion, impact, and
crushing of CBA were improved due to the coated pozzolan layer
over CBA that formed from the treated slurries. Therefore, the
CBA becomes stronger after applying the proposed treatment tech-
nique. The abrasion values for FA&SF, FA&C and NSF treated CBA
were decreased by 20%, 24%, and 25%, respectively, compared with
the untreated CBA. The impact values were also reduced by 14%,
20%, and 19% and the crushing values were reduced by 23%, 26%,
and 26%, respectively, compared with the untreated CBA.
4.2. Workability of fresh concrete

The slump test was performed for the various mixes of the fresh
concrete as given in Fig. 6. It was observed that the workability of
Table 3 the NAC was better than that of the untreated BAC, in line with the
Physical properties of NA, untreated CBA, treated CBA with pozzolan slurries. findings from the studies of Bektas et al. [3] and Yang et al. [23].
Properties of Natural Untreated Treated CBA with The slump value of untreated BAC was 45% lower than that of
aggregates aggregate CBA different pozzolan NAC, which may be due to the higher water absorption of CBA
(NA) slurries and the increased friction between CBA and the fresh mortar. How-
FA&SF FA&C NSF ever, the workability of treated BAC by pozzolan slurries was found
Particle density (OD) 2.88 1.98 2.04 2.13 2.16 better than that of the untreated BAC. The slump values increased
Particle density (SSD) 2.89 2.18 2.24 2.32 2.31 around 30–40% depending on the slurry type. This can be due to
Apparent particle density 2.91 2.48 2.55 2.61 2.56 the treated pozzolan slurries wrapped on the CBA, which decreased
Water absorption (%) 0.50 10.28 9.80 8.00 7.27 the water absorption behavior of the CBA from fresh mixes and this

50
Abration value
Impact value 60
Crushing value
40
50

30 40
Slump (mm)
Value in %

30
20

20

10
10

0 0
NA CBA FA&SF FA&C NSF NAC BAC BACFA&SF BACFA&C BACNSF
Condition treatment type Condition treatment type

Fig. 5. Aggregate abrasion, impact, and crushing values. Fig. 6. Slump of various mixes.
 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612 5

enhancing the workability of the treated BAC. The workability of 60

the treated BAC by FA&C slurry was slightly higher than that of 28 d
7d
the treated CBA by the other treated slurries. This is due to the
50 3d
presence of SF and NSF is expected to affect the water absorption

Compressive strength (MPa)

because of its high surface area [14]. In order to observe the corre-
lation between the workability of fresh concrete and the water 40
absorption of CBA, a relationship between the two properties are
revealed in Fig. 7. As can be seen, quadratic equation clearly
30
reflects the behavior of these properties, indicating the presence
of correlation between the slump values of concrete and the water
absorption of CBA. 20

10
4.3. Compressive strength

The results of the compressive strength test for five different
mixes at 3, 7, and 28 days of curing is shown in Fig. 8. It shows that
NAC produced stronger concrete than the untreated BAC irrespec-
tive of the curing age. The compressive strength of BAC is 42%
lower than that of NAC at the age of 28 days. This is due to the high
water absorption of CBA that adversely affects the strength charac-
teristics of concrete, and this agreed with the published results [6].
For the treated BAC, the pozzolan slurries formed a thin layer on
the CBA and reduced the water absorption. It also strengthened
the attached weak adhered mortar. In addition, the ITZ between
treated CBA and the new mortar got enhanced via pozzolanic reac-
tion. The compressive strength of treated BAC was increased by
22–34% compared with untreated BAC at 28-days curing age.
Therefore, the compressive strength results suggested that the pro-
posed technique effectively improved the compressive strength to
be close to that of NAC.
The compressive strength development was found higher for
concrete made with treated CBA with FA&SF and NSF slurries than
CBA treated with FA&C slurry. This is attributed to their finer par-
ticle size and the presence of silica content in CBA and the pozzolan
slurries. These finer particles fill the pores and voids in the porous
structure of CBA and that of the weak adhered mortar. During the
treatment process, the pozzolanic materials and the mineral com-
positions of CBA (quartz) react with CH and also with the trical-
cium silicate (C3S) to form additional C–S–H gel which increases
the bond between the CBA and the mortar. At the age of 28 days,
the loss of compressive strengths of the concrete treated by FA&SF,
FA&C, and NSF was approximately 12%, 25%, and 20%, respectively.
Thus, it can be understood that the combination of SF and FA is
0
NAC BAC BACFA&SF BACFA&C BACNSF
Condition treatment type
Fig. 8. Compressive strength of various concrete mixtures.
more effective in achieving the higher compressive strength devel-
opment of BAC.
4.4. Flexural strength
The results of flexural strength of the all concrete mixtures are
shown in Fig. 9. It was observed that the treated BAC with FA&SF
slurry was more prone to gain a maximum flexural strength than
the other treated BAC at 28-days curing age. The higher strength
of the FA&SF treated BAC can be due to the high pozzolanic reactiv-
ity of SF. This pozzolanic reactivity improved CBA matrix bond
leading to the formation of a less porous ITZ and a better bonding
between the mortar and the CBA when compared with the
untreated BAC. It was observed from the literatures that the bond-
ing strength between CBA and concrete matrix effectively affected
the flexural strength development [6,13]. This verity is certain dur-
ing treated CBA with pozzolan slurries, which lead to the enhance-
ment of the flexural strength. The flexural strength of the treated
BAC with pozzolan slurries becomes similar to that of NAC at dif-
ferent curing age. This result can be attributed to the reaction
between the pozzolanic materials and both of SiO2 (i.e. the main
constituent of CBA) and CH (i.e. the main constituent of adhered

10
55 28 d
7d
y = -320 + 90 x - 5.5 x 2
2
R = 0.90
3d
8
50
Flexural strength (MPa)

6
Slump (mm)

45

4
40

2
35

30 0
7 8 9 10 11 NAC BAC BAC
BAC FA&SF
BAC
BAC FA&C
BAC
BAC NSF

Water absorption (%) Condition treatment type

Fig. 7. Relationship between slump values and water absorption percentage. Fig. 9. Flexural strength of various concrete mixtures.
6 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612

mortar) during the hydration process. This reaction liberates addi- 4.6. Rapid chloride ion migration
tional C-S-H that strengthens the interface bond between the mor-
tar and CBA. Thus, the surface treatment with pozzolanic materials The coefficients of chloride ion migration for the various con-
significantly improved the flexural strength of BAC. crete mixtures at 28-days of curing were presented in Fig. 11.
The resistance of untreated BAC to the chloride ion migration
4.5. Modulus of elasticity was lower by 50% when compared to that of NAC. However, the
resistance of chloride ion migration of treated BAC significantly
CBA with weak adhered mortar is distinguished with lower increased by 22–44% compared with untreated BAC. The poz-
density and higher porosity compared with NA. On the other hand, zolanic materials enhanced the new ITZ in BAC, which increased
the concrete elastic modulus is generally affected by the porosity the chloride penetration resistance. Treated BAC by using FA&SF
and density of the aggregate [8]. Therefore, the elastic modulus slurry was more effective than the treatment by the other slurries,
for BAC is always lower than that of corresponding NAC, as pre- in terms of increasing the BAC resistance to the chloride ion migra-
sented in Fig. 10. After using the proposed treatment technique, tion. These findings agreed with Wongkeo et al. [16] who con-
the modulus of elasticity for BAC noticeably increased. The elastic firmed that the chloride bending capacity of SF enhances its
modulus of treated BAC increased around 16–30% at the age of resistance to the chloride ion migration.
28 days depending on the slurry type. Thus, these findings con-
firmed the importance of treating BAC in enhancing its mechanical 4.7. Investigation of microstructure
properties.
4.7.1. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS)
The EDS test was performed to estimate the chemical elements
for the different CBA samples, as displayed in Figs. 12–15. The EDS
results showed that there are two types of chemical elements: (i)
predominant elements such as oxygen, carbon, silicon, calcium
30 and aluminum, and (ii) less quantities elements such as potassium
and iron. As can be seen, there is an obvious variance in the chem-
Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

ical compositions for the treated and untreated CBA samples which
includes increasing the weight of silica atoms. Irrespective of the
20
oxygen atom, the highest weight percentage of chemical element
is calcium, followed by silica, and aluminum for untreated CBA,
as shown in Fig. 12. After surface treatment, the highest weight
percentage of the chemical elements of treated CBA samples are
silica followed by calcium depending on the slurry type, as shown
10 in Figs. 13–15. For more valuable classification of CBA surface min-
eralogy, XRD test was carried out and described in the next section.

4.7.2. X-ray diffraction (XRD)

The mineral compositions of the treated and untreated CBA
0 samples were identified by XRD technique, as shown in Figs. 16–
NAC BAC BACFA&SF BACFA&C BACNSF
19. According to the diffraction peaks, the mineral compositions
Condition treatment type of the untreated CBA sample are quartz (SiO2), calcite (CaCO3),
and anorthite (CaO.Al2O3.2SiO2). Thus, the mineral composition
Fig. 10. Modulus of elasticity of various concrete mixtures.
of the untreated CBA consists of active pozzolanic components
(i.e., SiO2 and Al2O3), as shown in Fig. 16. This is in line with the
EDS test results. Furthermore, the mineral composition CaCO3
can react with C3A in cement to produce carboaluminate (C3A.
CaCO3
11H2O). After treating the CBA sample, the different poz-
zolanic materials reacted with the mineral composition of the
10
CBA and produced new hydrated products such as calcium alu-
Chloride migration coefficient (10 m /s)
2

minum silicate, calcium aluminum silicate hydrate, and micro-

-12

cline. These new products are formed in the treated CBA

8
samples, thus preventing the formation of CH in CBA. Moreover,
the new hydration products effectively improved the ITZ between
the CBA and the mortar and thus the mechanical performance of
6
the treated BAC is enhanced, as explained before.

4 4.7.3. Microstructure morphology

SEM test was performed to inspect its surface morphology of
untreated and treated CBA samples, as shown in Fig. 20. As can
2 be seen in Fig. 20(a), the untreated CBA surface is irregular edges,
sharp angles, porous and rough. This is due to the porous structure
of CBA and also the presence of the weak adhered mortar causing
0 non-homogeneous CBA surface. Also, SEM images showed that the
NAC BAC FA&SF
BAC FA&SF
FA&C
BAC FA&C
NSFNSF
BAC presence of multiple voids without any particular shape and size.
Condition treatment type This explains the decrease of the particle densities and the increase
of water absorption of untreated CBA sample. Thus, these observa-
Fig. 11. Chloride ion migration coefficient of various concrete mixtures. tions confirm the laboratory test results, which indicated the infe-
 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612 7

Fig. 12. EDS analysis of untreated CBA sample.

Fig. 13. EDS analysis of treated CBA sample by FA&SF slurry.

rior properties of untreated CBA. After surface treatment tech-
nique, a considerable difference in the roughness of the CBA sur-
face was obviously observed. The roughness of CBA surface has
disappeared after subjected to the surface treatment technique,
as displayed in Fig. 20(b–d). The new hydrated products fill up
the voids in the porous structure of CBA and thus strengthen the
CBA surface. In addition, the high pozzolanic reactivity of the trea-
ted materials decreased the thickness and porosity of the pores in
the attached adhered mortar and achieved denser CBA surface, and
these findings are agreed with Shaban et al. [12].
4.7.4. Interfacial transition zone (ITZ)
In order to identify the microstructure of ITZ between the CBA
and the mortar, SEM test was performed for all the concrete spec-
imens. Fig. 21(a) show that an extremely porous ITZ along the CBA
edge with various pores and for the untreated BAC sample. The
cracks near the CBA surface were ranged between 15.88 and
26.10 lm (see Fig. 21(a)). The porous ITZ in untreated BAC is due
to the high water absorption of CBA that leads to more water
absorption during concrete mixing, causing transfer water from
the mortar to the CBA particle. Thus, this action will reduce the
required water amount for hydration process in untreated BAC,
resulting in precocious formation in concrete microstructure. In
addition, the water from bleeding CBA will evaporate, forming
pores and voids in the ITZ. These findings emphasize that these fac-
tors accountable for the significant decrease in the mechanical and
durability properties of untreated BAC compared with NAC.
On the other hand, it is observed that the ITZ microstructure for-
mation of the treated BAC by pozzolanic materials is better than
that of untreated BAC. Fig. 21(b–d) a relatively smaller porous ITZ
8 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612

Fig. 14. EDS analysis of treated CBA sample by FA&C slurry.

Fig. 15. EDS analysis of treated CBA sample by NSF slurry.

between the treated CBA and cement paste, the pores and voids are 4.8. Relationships between mechanical and durability properties of
lesser in treated BAC than in untreated BAC, with sizes that vary BAC
from 3.21 to 1.05 lm based on the slurry type (see Fig. 21(b–d)).
The implication of surface-treated CBA in the concrete achieved In order to facilitate the use of BAC in many construction appli-
more uniform concrete surface and much denser ITZ between cations, the strong relationships between the mechanical and
CBA and the cement paste compared with untreated BAC. The durability properties of BAC were established.
new hydrated products that formed from the pozzolanic reaction
offers a further layer (coating layer) that absorbed the free water
during the concrete mixing and decreased the bleeding of water
in the CBA. Also, these products penetrated the CBA surface to fill
4.8.1. Relationship between compressive strength and elastic modulus
up the pores and seal the cracks. Therefore, the surface-treated
Fig. 22 illustrates the relationship between the concrete elastic
CBA is efficiently strengthened and improved the ITZ between the
modulus Ec and the compressive strength fc at 28-days curing age
CBA and cement paste. Achieving stronger ITZ in treated BAC con-
of BAC. The elastic modulus was found to have a close linear rela-
firms the fact of the mechanical and durability properties of treated
tionship with the 28-days compressive strength with correlation
BAC by pozzolanic materials is better than that of untreated BAC.
coefficient R2 = 0.95 of BAC samples.
 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612 9

1 1
1- Quartz (SiO2)
2- Calcite (CaCO3) 1- Quartz (SiO2)

3- Anorthite (CaO.Al2O3.2SiO2) 2- Calcium ALminum Silicate (CaAL2Si2O4)

1
1
2 1
2 1 13 1 1 13 3 22 22 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
32 3 3 1
3 3 2 2 1 3 21 3 2 1 3 2 13 3 21 33 2 3 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 21 2 2 21 1 2 1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
2-Theta (degree) 2-Theta (degree)

Fig. 16. The mineral composition of untreated CBA sample. Fig. 19. The mineral composition of treated CBA sample by NSF slurry.

1 R2 = 0.93, as shown in Fig. 23. As can be seen, there is a significant

linear relationship between fc and ff for BAC samples at the differ-
1- Quartz (SiO2)
ent curing ages. The increase of compressive strength leads to
2- Microcline (KAL3Si3O11) increasing the flexural strength.

4.8.3. Relationship between compressive strength and chloride ion

migration coefficient
It is always motivating to establish a relation between the com-
pressive strength fc and the coefficient of chloride ion migration
DRCM at 28-days curing age of BAC. The R2 equal to 0.99 was calcu-
1 lated from the linear regression analysis, as schemed in Fig. 24. A
1 robust relation between the two parameters was indicated. This
2 1
2 22 2 2 2 2 1121 21 1 1 1 111 11 relation explained that the increasing of compressive strength
22 2
reduces the coefficient of chloride ion migration.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 5. Conclusions
2-Theta (degree)
In this paper, the influence of strengthening CBA by the poz-
Fig. 17. The mineral composition of treated CBA sample by FA&SF slurry. zolan slurry on the physical, mechanical, and microstructure prop-
erties of CBA has been studied. In addition, the workability,
mechanical, and durability properties of concrete prepared with
1 100% strengthened CBA with pozzolan slurries were examined
1- Quartz (SiO2) and compared with NAC and untreated BAC. Based on the different
2- Calcite (CaCO3) experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn:
3- Calcium Aluminum Silicate Hydrate
(CaAl2SiO2O8.4H2O)  Due to the porous structure of CBA and the attached weak
adhered mortar, the apparent density, oven-dry, and saturated
and surface-dried densities of the CBA are reduced. The water
absorption, aggregate abrasion, impact, and crushing resistance
3 of CBA are increased.
1  The surface treatment technique by pozzolan slurries has a
3
3 great influence on the physical and mechanical properties of
3 3 3 1 1 1 3 1
3 3 3 3 2 3 32 3 2 2 3 2 1 1 1 2 3 31 CBA, which increased the particle densities up to 8% and
3 3 2 3 3 32 2 2 312
reduced the water absorption by 30%, compared with untreated
CBA.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80  The proposed technique for CBA not only improved the
mechanical properties but also the durability performance for
2-Theta (degree)
BAC at the different curing ages. The loss of compressive
Fig. 18. The mineral composition of treated CBA sample by FA&C slurry. strength was 12–25%, flexural strength was 9–22%, modulus
of elasticity was 16–30%, and resistance against chloride ion
migration was 14–37% compared with NAC at 28 days of curing.
4.8.2. Relationship between compressive strength and flexural strength  SEM test results indicated that the surface morphology of
The relation between the compressive strength fc and the flex- untreated CBA was porous, irregular, and rough. Whereas the
ural strength ff of BAC samples at the different curing ages was esti- treated CBA surface was regular and less porous based on the
mated by linear regression analysis with correlation coefficient slurry type. Also, the treated pozzolanic materials can react
10 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612

Fig. 20. Microstructure morphology of CBA surface (a) untreated CBA; (b) treated CBA with FA&SF slurry; (c) treated CBA with FA&C slurry; (d) treated CBA with NSF slurry.

(a) (b)
ITZ
Cement paste

CBA Cement paste

CBA

Porous ITZ New hydrated

product
Cracks

(c) (d)

Dense ITZ

Cement paste CBA

Cement paste
CBA

ITZ
New hydrated
product
New hydrated
product

Fig. 21. Microstructure morphology of BAC (a) untreated BAC; (b) treated BAC with FA&SF slurry; (c) treated BAC with FA&C slurry; (d) treated BAC with NSF slurry.
 J. Yang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 247 (2020) 118612 11

28 with the mineral composition of CBA to produce new hydrated

Ec = 2.95 + 0.55*fc products. These hydrated products can enhance the ITZ
2
R = 0.95 microstructure between the CBA surface and the cement paste
26 compared with the untreated BAC.
Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

 The EDS and XRD analyses observed that the CBA has pozzolanic
activity components (SiO2 and Al2O3). After surface treatment,
the different pozzolanic materials reacted with the mineral
24
composition of the CBA and produced new hydrated products
such as calcium aluminum silicate, calcium aluminum silicate
hydrate, and microcline.
22
 The relations between mechanical and durability properties of
the BAC were established for compressive strength and modu-
lus of elasticity, flexural strength, and chloride migration coeffi-
20 cient and can be used for future research and application.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

18
28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46
Jian Yang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation,
Compressive strength (MPa) Resources, Supervision. Wafaa Mohamed Shaban: Conceptualiza-
tion, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data
Fig. 22. Relationship between elastic modulus and compressive strength of BAC
curation, Writing - original draft, Visualization, Writing - review
samples.
& editing, Project administration. Khalid Elbaz: Software, Investi-
gation. Blessen Skariah Thomas: Writing - review & editing, Visu-
ff = 0.41 + 0.15*fc alization, Project administration. Jianhe Xie: Funding acquisition.
7 2
Lijuan Li: Funding acquisition.
R = 0.93

Declaration of Competing Interest

6
Flexural strength (MPa)

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.
5
Acknowledgment

The corresponding author would like to thank the supports

4 from Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China [Grant
No. 201704030057]. The last author would like to thank the grant
support from the Science and Technology Planning Project of
Guangdong Province [No. 2017B020238006].
3
20 25 30 35 40 45
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