Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Effects of recycled CRT glass fine aggregate size and content

on mechanical and damping properties of concrete
Wen Song, Dujian Zou, Tiejun Liu ⇑, Jun Teng, Lei Li
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s

Effects of content and size of CRT glass aggregate on the concrete were studied.

Finer CRT glass aggregates generally increased the strength and elastic modulus.

CRT glass aggregate content had a limited impact on the damping ratio of concrete.

Reducing the size of CRT glass aggregate generally lowered the damping ratio.

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

Article history: This paper investigates the influences of the content and particle size of recycled cathode ray tube (CRT)
Received 15 April 2018 glass on the damping ratio of the CRT glass concrete by free vibration attenuation method. The density,
Received in revised form 5 December 2018 water absorption, strength, and elastic modulus were also evaluated. The results show that the water
Accepted 6 January 2019
absorption, elastic modulus, compressive strength and tensile strength decreased monotonously with
Available online 16 January 2019
CRT glass content, while the CRT glass content had a limited impact on the damping ratio. In general,
hardened density, water absorption and damping ratio would decrease when the maximum particle size
Keywords:
reduces from 4.75 mm to 0.60 mm, while the compressive strength, tensile strength and elastic modulus
Concrete
Recycled CRT glass
would increase. However, an unexpected decrease in the compressive strength and increase in the damp-
Fine aggregate ing ratio of CRT glass concrete comes out when the maximum particle size decreases from 1.18 mm to
Particle size 0.60 mm. The tensile strength of CRT glass concrete is underestimated by most of the existing concrete
Damping ratio specifications when using compressive strength to estimate tensile strength. These specifications provide
a conservative estimation that allows for the safe application of recycled CRT glass concrete in engineer-
ing designs.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the construction of pavement base/subbase and footpaths. Waste

Concrete is widely used around the world for its excellent prop-
erties and reasonable price. However, its production consumes a
huge amount of raw materials. The worldwide requirement of
aggregate is expected to reach 51.7 billion metric tons in 2019
[1]. Finding a natural aggregate substitute is important to achieve
a sustainable construction industry. The recovery of solid waste
such as the construction and demolition waste, waste glass, and
ceramic as potential aggregate substitutes have been explored by
researchers [2–4]. Arulrajah et al. [5–7] applied waste glass to
Abbreviations: ASR, alkali-silica reaction; CRT, cathode ray tube; DMA, dynamic
thermomechanical analysis; FA, fly ash; GA, glass fine aggregate.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: liutiejun@hit.edu.cn (T. Liu).
cathode ray tube (CRT) glass is a kind of hazardous solid waste
derived from scrapped cathode ray tube. Its feasible use as aggre-
gate in the cement based materials has been confirmed [8,9]. The
global annual production of CRT screen waste reached 6.3 million
tons in 2014, and more than half of this weight is glass [10,11].
Besides, China alone produced approximately 43.11 million tons
of CRT glass in 2013 [12]. Many methods have been proposed for
the recovery of lead or removal of leachable lead in the waste
CRT glass. Some of these methods include mechanic activation,
ultrasonically enhanced leaching, chloride volatilization and the
self-propagating method [13–16]. However, these methods have
drawbacks in terms of process time, energy consumption, and eco-
nomic feasibility. Preparing concrete and mortar with waste CRT
glass cannot be considered as recycling according to the definition
of recycling by the European Waste Framework Directive, but it

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.01.033
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340
can be regarded as interim storage [17]. Therefore, the utilization
of waste CRT glass as an aggregate in cement-based materials con-
tributes to solid waste disposal and sustainable construction.
Extensive studies have been conducted in the literature on the
feasibility of using waste CRT glass as a substitute for sand in the
mortar [18–20]. The influence of the waste CRT glass substitution
ratio on the strength of mortar has been studied by Ling and Poon
[8] and Choi et al. [21]. It was seen that the replacement of waste
CRT glass as a fine aggregate leads to a strength reduction. The
detrimental effect of untreated CRT glass aggregate on the strength
can be attributed to poor bond strength between the smooth sur-
face of the glass cullet and cement paste, and the retardation effect
of lead on the hydration of cement. However, a study by Zhao et al.
[22] on the properties of mortar prepared with recycled CRT glass
showed an opposite trend. It was found that both the strength and
elastic modulus increase with increasing untreated CRT glass sand
content. The authors explained the improvement by the better
aggregate particle packing when replacing river sand with glass
sand.
Researchers also have investigated the utilization of waste CRT
glass in the concrete [23,24]. Romero et al. [25] evaluated the
strength of concrete containing 10%–30% waste CRT glass aggre-
gates. It was found that the compressive strength of concrete with
the incorporated waste CRT glass was not lower than the control
group. Nevertheless, the test results of Liu et al. [26] and Tian
et al. [27] demonstrated that the strength decreased when more
crushed CRT glass was used as fine aggregate. The different results
of the compressive strength could be induced by the different
replacement ratios of waste CRT glass. Serpa et al. [28] argued that
the incorporation of glass aggregates in concrete caused a loss of
mechanical performance. This performance loss was not significant
at low replacement ratios.
Glass aggregate concrete is prone to promoting and developing
the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) due to the amorphous nature of
glass. Thus, researchers have investigated the way that glass aggre-
gate affects the ASR of concrete [24,25,29]. Ling et al. [24] demon-
strated that the ASR expansion value of the concrete block
prepared with crushed CRT glass was lower than the limit of
0.1%. The test results of Romero et al. [25] confirmed that the con-
crete was susceptible to ASR when the replacement ratio exceeded
10%. The study conducted by Serpa et al. [30] suggested that the
incorporation of glass as a substitute for cement or aggregate in
mortar benefited ASR mitigation. The efficiency of this ASR mitiga-
tion was impacted by the replacement ratio and the size of glass.
Therefore, the potential for the ASR must be considered when
preparing concrete with glass aggregates. A potential solution is
to use fly ash or other mineral admixtures to suppress the ASR of
CRT glass concrete [31].
Concrete structures may be subjected to dynamic loads from
earthquakes, waves, wind, and machinery. The energy dissipation
capacity of concrete is important for concrete structure. Research-
ers investigated the dynamic behavior of different kinds of con-
crete, and tried to enhance the energy dissipation capacity of
concrete. Ou et al. [32,33] investigated the damping behavior of
cement matrix that was enhanced with silane-treated silica fume
and analyzed the dynamic properties of the high damping con-
crete. Wei et al. [34] used graphene oxide to improve the damping
capacity of recycled fine aggregate mortar. The free vibration
attenuation method is one of the main methods for testing the
damping capacity of concrete [35,36]. Liu et al. [37] studied the
damping properties of polymer modified recycled concrete by
using the free vibration attenuation method. As a kind of recycled
aggregate concrete, the CRT glass aggregate used in recycled CRT
glass aggregate concrete makes it possess different dynamic prop-
erties from ordinary concrete. Dynamic thermomechanical analy-
sis (DMA) tests were performed on CRT glass fine aggregate
333
mortar to investigate its dynamic properties [38]. However, the
dynamic properties of CRT glass aggregate concrete was rarely
evaluated.
The properties of cement based materials are affected by the
particle size of aggregate [39]. The leachable lead in CRT glass
has detrimental effects on the properties of cement based materi-
als containing waste CRT glass aggregate. Saterlay et al. [14] inves-
tigated the influence of particle size on the removal of lead from
waste CRT glass. It was concluded that waste CRT glass with a
smaller particle size has a larger surface area. The larger surface
area is advantageous to lead leaching. The particle size of the
CRT glass aggregate not only affects the properties of the concrete
as a natural aggregate does, but also indirectly affects the proper-
ties through its influence on the leaching of lead. Thus, it is neces-
sary to explore the influence of particle size on the properties of
concrete containing waste CRT glass aggregate from these two
aspects.
As mentioned above, research on the damping properties of CRT
glass concrete is lacked. In addition, particle size and content of
glass aggregate have impacts on the properties of concrete. Based
on the above research needs, the damping ratio of concrete made
with fine waste CRT glass was studied by the free vibration atten-
uation method. The influences of waste CRT glass content and
maximum particle size were considered through experiment. Fur-
thermore, the density, water absorption, compressive strength,
splitting tensile strength and elastic modulus were also tested.
2. Experimental method
2.1. Materials
This study used the cementitious material of Ordinary Portland Cement (P.O
42.5 R) and class F fly ash (FA). The FA was used as an ASR suppressor. The chemical
components of cement and FA are shown in Table 1. Continuous graded crushed
stones with particle sizes ranging from 5 mm to 25 mm were used as coarse aggre-
gate. The river sand, denoted by Sand-4.75, was obtained from the local building
materials market. Sand-4.75 was used as fine aggregate in control concrete. The
recycled CRT funnel glass provided by an electronic waste dismantling factory
was utilized as the raw material to prepare the CRT glass fine aggregate (GA). The
recycled CRT funnel glass was crushed into particles smaller than 4.75 mm. Square
mesh sieves with apertures of 0.60 mm, 1.18 mm, 2.36 mm and 4.75 mm were used
to divide the GAs into four groups of corresponding maximum particle sizes. These
four kinds of GA are denoted as GA-0.60, GA-1.18, GA-2.36 and GA-4.75. The parti-
cle size distribution, density, and water absorption of aggregates were determined
according to JGJ 52-2006 [40]. The test results are shown in Fig. 1 and Table 2. Tap
water was used in the mixture.
2.2. Mix design and sample preparation
The influences of glass aggregate on the properties of concrete were investi-
gated using nine different concrete mixtures. The concrete mixtures were produced
at a constant water to binder ratio of 0.45, cement content of 336 kg/m3, and FA
content of 84 kg/m3. The coarse and fine aggregate contents in the control concrete
mixture were 1092 kg/m3 and 700 kg/m3, respectively. The mix proportions of
these nine mixtures are listed in Table 3. Mixture 1 was the control group prepared
without glass fine aggregates. In the mixtures 2–6, glass fine aggregates with max-
imum particle size of 4.75 mm replaced natural sands with ratios of 20%, 40%, 60%,
Table 1
Chemical composition of cement and fly ash.
Chemical composition Cement (%) Fly ash (%)
CaO 68.59 1.60
SiO2 21.51 48.83
Al2O3 2.34 24.81
Fe2O3 0.70 5.14
MgO 0.50 1.28
Na2O 0.00 1.43
K2O 0.06 1.81
SO3 0.88 0.22
Others 5.43 14.88
334 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340

modulus of elasticity tests were performed on 150  150  300 mm prisms in

accordance with GB/T 50081-2002. The reported strengths and elastic moduli are
the average of three tested samples.

2F F
f ts ¼ ¼ 0:637 ð2Þ
pA A
where fts is the splitting tensile strength of concrete (MPa), F is the failure load of the
specimen (N), A is the area of the split surface of specimen (mm2).

2.3.3. Damping ratio test

Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of aggregates.
80%, and 100%. In the mixtures 7–9, the natural sands were fully replaced by glass
fine aggregates with maximum particle sizes of 2.36 mm, 1.18 mm, and 0.60 mm,
respectively.
The specimens were prepared and cured according to procedures described in
GB/T 50081-2002 [41]. Concrete mixtures were prepared by a forced mixer. The
water and binders were first mixed for 30 s. Then, aggregates were added to the
mix, and mixing for another 90 s. The fresh concrete was poured into the molds
and compacted with a vibration table. The concrete specimens were produced in
cubes with the dimensions of 100  100  100 mm. Tests performed on these spec-
imens provided the hardened density, water absorption, compressive strength, and
splitting tensile strength. The prisms for elastic modulus tests and beams for damp-
ing ratio tests were prepared using the mold sizes of 150  150  300 mm and
60  60  900 mm, respectively. A total of nine cubes, three prisms, and three
beams were produced for each mixture. After casting, the specimens in the molds
were placed in a moisture rich environment with 98% relative humidity and a tem-
perature of 20 °C ± 5 °C. The specimens were removed from the molds 24 h after
casting. Then, all the specimens were cured in water until being tested.
2.3. Test methods
2.3.1. Dry bulk density and water absorption test
A total of 27 concrete cubes, three for each mix proportion, were tested after
28 days of curing. The specimens were weighed after oven dried for 24 h at a tem-
perature of 105 °C. The dry bulk densities of the specimens were calculated accord-
ing to Eq. (1). After that, the water absorption tests were performed on the
specimens following the JGJ/T 70-2009 [42]. Each reported dry bulk density and
water absorption is the average measured value of three concrete cubes.
The energy dissipation capacity of the concretes was evaluated using the damp-
ing ratio as obtained through the free vibration attenuation method. The tests were
performed on 60  60  900 mm beams. Fig. 2 shows the test setup. One end of the
beam was fixed on an iron base, and three acceleration transducers were placed at
the other. The initial actuation force was provided by weights that were hung on the
end of the beam with a nylon rope. The damping ratios of specimens were tested
under the action of different actuation forces, namely 50 N, 100 N, 150 N, and
200 N. At the beginning of the test, the nylon rope was cut, and the beam vibration
started. The accelerations were collected and stored by an INV3060A data acquisi-
tion system with a sampling frequency of 400 Hz.
In this study, the data processing and the calculation of damping ratio was done
by MATLAB. Since the beam vibration was not steady enough at the beginning, the
accelerations collected during the first 0.5 s were discarded. The rest of the data
were used to calculate damping ratios. As shown in Fig. 3, the typical acceleration
versus time curve is a vibration attenuation curve which conforms to Eq. (3). The
period and angular frequency of the vibration can be obtained by calculating the
average time interval between peaks. Additionally, the upper envelope of the vibra-
tion attenuation curve conforms to Eq. (4). It can also be seen in Fig. 3 that the curve
of Eq. (5) is a straight line through the peak point (t0, amax) and parallel to the hor-
izontal axis when b = 0. The curve approaches the envelope of vibration attenuation
curve when b increases. Thus, b was increased with an increment of 0.001, and the
curves determined by different b were compared with the vibration attenuation
curve. The comparison was performed until there was an intersection other than
(t0, amax) between the two curves. The final value of b when this intersection
occurred is the determined damping ratio.
a ¼ amax enxðtt0 Þ cosðxðt  t0 ÞÞ ð3Þ
a ¼ amax enxðtt0 Þ ð4Þ
a ¼ amax ebxðtt0 Þ ð5Þ
where t0 is the time of the first positive peak value within the selected time domain, t
is the time from the start of data acquisition, amax is the acceleration at t0, a is the
acceleration at t, n is the damping ratio of the beam, x is the angular frequency of
periodic vibration.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Hardened density

md The concrete densities measured during testing are presented in

qd ¼ ð1Þ
V
where qd is the dry bulk density of the specimen, md is the oven-dried mass of the
specimen, V is the volume of the specimen that was calculated with its dimensions
of 100  100  100 mm.
2.3.2. Strength and elastic modulus test
The compressive and splitting tensile strength tests following the standard GB/T
50081-2002 [41] were performed on the 100 mm concrete cubes after 28 days of
curing. The splitting tensile strength of concrete was calculated according to Eq.
(2). Since 100 mm concrete cube is not the standard specimen specified in this test
standard, the calculated compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were
multiplied by dimension conversion coefficient 0.95 and 0.85, respectively. The
Fig. 4. The densities of the specimens increase with the glass fine
aggregate content. After 28 days of curing, the specimen without
glass fine aggregate showed the minimum density of 2303 kg/m3.
The density of the specimen containing 100% of GA-4.75 increased
by 5.21% in comparison with the control group. Its density of
2423 kg/m3 was the maximum. Glass fine aggregate has a positive
effect on the dry bulk density of concrete. Also, a decrease in the
maximum particle size of the glass fine aggregate leads to a density
reduction of the concrete. For fully substituted glass fine aggregate
concrete specimens, the densities decreased by 0.87%, 2.48%, and
2.68%, when the maximum particle size was changed from

Table 2
Physical properties of aggregates.

Aggregate type Apparent density (kg/m3) Bulk density (kg/m3) Tap density (kg/m3) Fineness modulus Water absorption (%)
Gravel 2686 1334 1522 – 0.42
Sand-4.75 2605 1563 1770 2.14 0.40
GA-4.75 2942 1763 2050 2.86 0.04
GA-2.36 2902 1675 1940 2.45 0.06
GA-1.18 2898 1635 1910 1.90 0.08
GA-0.6 2850 1563 1883 1.30 0.06
 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340 335

Table 3
Details of mix proportions of concrete.

No. Mix ID Fine aggregate type Fine aggregate Gravel (kg/m3) Binder Water (kg/m3)
3 3 3 3
Natural sand (kg/m ) CRT glass (kg/m ) Cement (kg/m ) Fly ash (kg/m )
1 Sand_0_4.75 Sand-4.75 700 0 1092 336 84 188
2 GA_20_4.75 Sand + GA-4.75 560 140 1092 336 84 188
3 GA_40_4.75 Sand + GA-4.75 420 280 1092 336 84 188
4 GA_60_4.75 Sand + GA-4.75 280 420 1092 336 84 188
5 GA_80_4.75 Sand + GA-4.75 140 560 1092 336 84 188
6 GA_100_4.75 GA-4.75 0 700 1092 336 84 188
7 GA_100_2.36 GA-2.36 0 700 1092 336 84 188
8 GA_100_1.18 GA-1.18 0 700 1092 336 84 188
9 GA_100_0.60 GA-0.60 0 700 1092 336 84 188

Note: The concrete mixes were labeled ’A_B_C’. ’A’ stands for the fine aggregate type, i.e. natural sand and glass fine aggregate. ’B’ stands for the replacement ratio by mass that
natural sands replaced by glass fine aggregates. ’C’ stands for the maximum particle size of fine aggregates.

Fig. 2. Test apparatus: (a) Test picture; (b) Schematic of setup.

3.2. Water absorption

The influences of content and maximum particle size of glass

Fig. 3. Typical acceleration versus time curve.
4.75 mm to 2.36 mm, 1.18 mm and 0.60 mm, respectively. As
shown in Table 2, the bulk density of GA-4.75 is much larger than
Sand-4.75. In addition, the bulk density of glass fine aggregate
decreases with the decreasing maximum particle size. The positive
effect of glass fine aggregate on the density can be attributed to its
larger dry bulk density. Ling and Poon [43] have reported that a lar-
ger particle size range of fine aggregate results in a better particle
packing. This particle packing can explain the negative effect of the
decrease of the maximum particle size on the dry bulk density of
concrete.
fine aggregates on the water absorption of concrete are illustrated
in Fig. 5. It is found that the water absorption of concrete decreases
as the replacement ratio of glass fine aggregates to river sand
increase from 0 to 100%. The maximum water absorption of
3.83% was observed for the control group. A reduction of 25.07%
in water absorption in comparison with the control group was
observed when the river sand was fully replaced by glass fine
aggregate. The presented results agree well with the finding of Ling
and Poon [8] who attributes the reduction in water absorption to
the low water absorption of glass fine aggregate. Higher content
of the glass aggregate benefits the reduction of water absorption,
and durability. As depicted in Fig. 5, the water absorption
decreases with the decreasing of the maximum particle size of
glass fine aggregate. The water absorption of concretes containing
GA-2.36, GA-1.18, and GA-0.60 reduced by 3.48%, 11.50%, and
18.12%, respectively, in comparison to the concrete prepared with
GA-4.75. Unlike this result, Ling and Poon [43] observed an inverse
trend of the particle size of nitric acid solution treated CRT glass on
water absorption of mortar. They suggested that mortar containing
finer glass particle trap more air in the matrices and has a higher
water absorption.
3.3. Strength
Fig. 6 shows the results of the compressive and splitting tensile
strength tests on the concrete with different amounts of glass fine
336 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340

Fig. 4. Hardened density of concretes for different glass fine aggregate contents and sizes.

Fig. 5. Water absorption of concretes for different glass fine aggregate contents and sizes.

Fig. 6. Effects of glass fine aggregate content on the compressive and splitting
tensile strength. Fig. 7. Effects of maximum glass fine aggregate particle size on the compressive
and splitting tensile strength.

aggregates. The test results showed a considerable strength reduc-

tion when the glass fine aggregate replacement ratio increased
from 0 to 100%. The compressive strength and splitting tensile
strength decreased by 16.76% and 10.21%, respectively, when the
replacement ratio was changed from 0 to 100%. Thus, the glass fine
aggregate has a detrimental effect on the strength of concrete.
Fig. 7 shows the compressive and splitting strength of concrete
produced with the glass fine aggregates for a maximum particle
size range of 0.60 mm–4.75 mm. In general, the strength increased
with decreasing maximum glass fine aggregate particle size. An
increase of 21.90% and 31.39% in the compressive strength of glass
 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340 337

fine aggregate concrete was observed when the maximum particle

size of glass fine aggregate was changed from 4.75 mm to 2.36 mm,
and to 1.18 mm, respectively. However, a further decrease of the
maximum particle size from 1.18 mm to 0.60 mm resulted in an
unexpected decline of the compressive strength. The splitting ten-
sile strength had a monotonic increase as the maximum particle
size was changed from 4.75 mm to 0.60 mm.
It is generally accepted that the smooth surface of the recycled
CRT glass aggregate leads to a weak glass aggregate-binder bond
strength. Also, the lead leached from recycled CRT glass retards
the cement hydration [8]. Both of these have an increasingly neg-
ative effect on the strength of concrete when increasing the
replacement ratio of river sand (Sand-4.75) with glass fine aggre-
gate (GA-4.75). Fig. 8 presents the morphology of glass fine aggre-
gate. The glass aggregate includes two kinds of surfaces. One is the
smooth surface that exists before crushing, and the other is the
rough fracture surface generated during the crushing process. Fig. 9. Comparison between measured and predicted tensile strength.
Although the rough fracture surface has a negligible effect on the
chemical bonding strength between glass aggregate and binder,
it does contribute to the mechanical anchoring or even friction specifications obtain the compressive and tensile strengths were
force. neglected. As illustrated in Fig. 9, AS 3600-2009, JSCE-2007, CEB-
For discussion, assume that the same mass of glass aggregate FIP-1990, and GB 50010-2010 underestimate the tensile strength
has the same area of smooth surface, and the smooth surfaces do of glass aggregate concrete when calculated it from the compres-
not become rougher during the crushing process. For a fixed sive strength. These conservative predictions would be safe to
amount of glass fine aggregate, a smaller fineness modulus means use in engineering design. Besides, the splitting tensile strength
that there is a larger total area of the rough fracture surface. Thus, a of the glass fine aggregate concrete was 10.36%–12.50% of the com-
smaller fineness modulus would be beneficial to the strength of pressive strength. The ACI recommended tensile strength to com-
glass fine aggregate concrete. Finer glass aggregate is also advanta- pressive strength ratio of 0.10–0.15 may overestimate the tensile
geous to lead leaching [14]. A decrease in maximum particle size of strength of the CRT concrete tested here. This is possessing safety
glass aggregate could influence the strength positively through concerns for engineering design.
increasing the area of the rough fracture surface and negatively
by increasing the amount of lead leached into the cement matrix.
The increase in the strength with decreasing maximum particle 3.4. Elastic modulus
size indicates that the negative effect of lead leaching on the
strength is not as significant as the positive effect of increasing Fig. 10 depicts the modulus of elasticity of concrete produced
the rough fracture surface area. with different amounts of glass fine aggregate. The elastic modulus
The tensile strength of concrete is an important parameter in decreased with the increase of the replacement ratio of glass
evaluating cracking and deflections [44]. However, in engineering aggregate to river sand. The modulus of elasticity of the concrete
practice, the compressive strength is more convenient to obtain. with glass aggregate fully replacing river sand reduced by 13.21%
Most concrete structure design specifications, such as ACI-318- in comparison to control group. Fig. 11 shows the modulus of elas-
14, AS 3600-2009, JSCE-2007, CEB-FIP-1990 and GB 50010-2010, ticity of concrete prepared with glass fine aggregates of different
provide methods to predict tensile strength using the known com- maximum particle sizes. The results revealed that a smaller maxi-
pressive strength [44–48]. Fig. 9 gives a comparison of the effec- mum glass fine aggregate particle size result in a higher elastic
tiveness of the tensile strength predictions for glass fine modulus. The decline of elastic modulus with increasing replace-
aggregate concrete through the method provided by the specifica- ment ratio and its increase with decreasing maximum particle size
tions. The differences between the test methods through which the can also be explained by the same factors of strength as discussed
in Section 3.3. The elastic modulus is affected by the weak glass
fine aggregate to binder bond strength, the retarding of cement

Fig. 8. Morphology of the glass fine aggregate. Fig. 10. Effects of glass fine aggregate content on the modulus of elasticity.
338 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340
Fig. 11. Effects of maximum glass fine aggregate particle size on the modulus of
elasticity.
hydration caused by leachable lead, and the area evolution of
smooth initial surfaces and rough fracture surfaces.
The measured modulus of elasticity from the test and the elastic
modulus that was calculated from the 28-day compressive
strength according to the different concrete structure design spec-
ification are compared in Fig. 12. It is seen that, there is significant
variation in the elastic moduli calculated by different specifica-
tions. The predicted values calculated based on ACI 318-14 [44]
and JSCE-2007 [46] are almost identical to each other. These two
specifications underestimated the elastic modulus of glass aggre-
gate concrete. Almost all predicted values calculated by CEB-FIP
1990 [47] were larger than the measured elastic moduli. It is indi-
cates that CEB-FIP 1990 overestimated the elastic modulus of glass
aggregate concrete. The predicted values calculated by AS 3600-
2009 [45] and GB 50010-2010 [48] were close to the measured val-
ues. These two specifications overestimated the elastic modulus at
relatively low elastic moduli and underestimated it at relatively
high moduli. The predicted values calculated by them are closer
to the measured values than those determined by ACI 318-14,
JSCE-2007 and CEB-FIP 1990. Thus, AS 3600-2009 and GB 50010-
2010 are more suitable for estimating the elastic modulus of glass
aggregate concrete.
3.5. Damping ratio
The damping ratios of the specimens cast with different
amounts of glass fine aggregate (GA-4.75) are shown in Fig. 13.
Fig. 12. Comparison between measured and predicted modulus of elasticity.
Fig. 13. Effects of glass fine aggregate content on the damping ratio.
Glass fine aggregate content has a limited impact on the damping
ratio. The actuation force had a more evident effect on the damping
ratio. In most cases, the damping ratio generally increased with
increasing actuation force. The damping ratio was tested under dif-
ferent actuation forces. It was reduced by 3.33 to 0.81%, 1.64–
14.22%, 4.37–12.86%, 2.28–7.98%, and 2.22–7.96% when the glass
aggregate replacement ratio changed from 0 to 20%, 40%, 60%,
80%, and 100%, respectively. This result is consistent with the
observation by Liang et al. [36]. Their investigation of the damping
ratio of recycled aggregate concrete concluded that the damping
ratio increases with the increase of initial displacement for a low
initial displacement level. According to Schaller et al. [49], also
endorsed by Chung [50], defects like phase boundaries and grain
boundaries help to energy dissipation as they slip during vibration.
The originally existing micro-cracks in the specimen were
expanded with the loaded actuation force. A higher actuation force
causes more evolution of the micro-cracks. Fig. 14 presents the
damping ratios of the specimens prepared with glass fine aggre-
gates with different maximum particle sizes. For fully substituted
glass aggregate samples, the damping ratios of specimens prepared
with GA-2.36 and GA-1.18 reduced in the range of 4.03–11.85%
and 18.51–25.47% in comparison to the specimens prepared with
GA-4.75. However, a further decrease in the glass particle size
resulted in an increase of damping ratio. The damping ratio of
specimens containing GA-0.60 increased by 9.37–21.27% in com-
parison to those made with GA-4.75. The cementitious glass pow-
der improves the microstructure of the concrete and reduces the
amount of defects, resulting in a reduction of damping ratio
[51,52]. The unexpected increase of the damping ratio of speci-
mens prepared with GA-0.60 can be attributed to the increase in
the area of the weak glass aggregate-cement paste interface and
the retardation of lead to cement hydration. The high damping
ratio of the specimen containing GA-0.60 can be explained by the
positive effects of the weak interface and leachable lead on
Fig. 14. Effects of maximum glass fine aggregate particle size on the damping ratio.
 W. Song et al. / Construction and Building Materials 202 (2019) 332–340
damping ratio being more dominant than the negative effects of
the microstructure improvement. Furthermore, there was no obvi-
ous correlation between the damping ratio and actuation force
when the maximum glass particle size was 2.36 mm, 1.18 mm,
and 0.60 mm.
4. Conclusion
In the present study, the influences of recycled CRT glass fine
aggregate size and content on the properties of concrete were
investigated. The hardened density, water absorption, compressive
and splitting tensile strength, elastic modulus and damping ratio of
CRT glass concrete were measured.
The main conclusions from the investigation are summarized as
follows:

The hardened density of CRT glass concrete increases with glass
content. A decrease in CRT glass aggregate particle size reduces
the hardened density.

The water absorption of CRT glass concrete decreases with the
increasing glass content. Reducing the particle size of CRT glass
aggregate leads to a decrease in water absorption.

Both compressive and splitting tensile strength of CRT glass
concrete decrease with increasing replacement ratio. In general,
a decrease in CRT glass aggregate particle size increases the
strength of CRT glass concrete. Most of the concrete specifica-
tions underestimate the tensile strength when using compres-
sive strength for the prediction. These estimates provide a
safe value for engineering design.

The elastic modulus generally decreases with the increase of the
glass aggregate replacement ratio. A smaller maximum glass
fine aggregate particle size tends to result in higher elastic mod-
ulus. The AS 3600-2009 and GB 50010-2010 specification are
more suitable for estimating the elastic modulus of glass aggre-
gate concrete than ACI-318-14, JSCE-2007, and CEB-FIP-1990.

The CRT glass content has a limited impact on the damping
ratio. Reducing the particle size of CRT glass aggregate generally
lowered the damping ratio, but changing the particle size from
1.18 mm to 0.60 mm increased the damping ratio.
The damping ratio of CRT glass concrete was investigated in the
present study. However, the research object and the vibration
mode were limited to beam and free vibration. Seismic perfor-
mance of structure made of CRT glass concrete are recommended
for further study. On the other hand, approaches that can increase
the energy dissipation capacity of CRT glass concrete also need to
be studied.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that no conflict of interest exists in the sub-
mission of this manuscript.
Acknowledgements
This study is financially supported by the National Key Research
and Development Plan (Grant No. 2018YFC0705400), National Nat-
ure Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51878225, 51678200
and 51678205), Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation
(Grant No. 2017A030313259) and Program of Shenzhen Science
and Technology Plan (Grant Nos. JCYJ20170307150200952,
JCYJ20170811160514862).
339
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