Performance of concrete produced with crushed bricks as the coarse and fine aggregate

During the last decades, in most industry countries, a large number of old buildings has been demolished and million tons of construction demolition waste have been produced. Demolition waste around the cities not only is a serious threat to the environment and underground water sanitation, but results in unpleasant landscapes. At present approximately 5% of bricks taken from demolition sites are being separated and recycled, while the proportion of concrete being recycled is up around 90%. This low rate of brick recycling is due to a lack of research into the performance of crushed brick material in applications such as concrete aggregate and road base. On the other hand, the low quality of crushed brick such as high water absorption and low strength in comparison with rock makes it difficult to meet concrete specifications. The importance of recycling brick cannot be overemphasized, since clinker bricks make up a large portion of construction and demolition waste. Considering the environmental impacts, construction and demolition waste threatens the health and safety of large and developed cities. The investigations showed that, when properly organized, masonry clay bricks could be crushed, sieved and used as economically as aggregate to produce concrete products. This research aims to examine a procedure to utilize clinker bricks in concrete and reproduce concrete bricks. The clinker bricks as a large portion of construction and demolition waste and are crushed and used as crushed coarse aggregate in concrete. Through an experimental program, physical characteristics of crushed clinker bricks, compressive and tensile strength of bricks concrete are investigated. Since the main objective of the research is to recycle clinker bricks, it is intended to produce concrete bricks so that comply with the standard requirements of clinker bricks. It is, therefore, desirable to produce concrete bricks to meet the strength of original clinker bricks. Also further researches were conducted to increase the quality of concrete produced with crushed bricks.