ABSTRACT
Aggregates are very important in the production of solid concrete. The use of construction materials increases every day and the cost of these materials are on the rise. Therefore, an alternative to these resources needs to be studied like the use of ceramic tile waste as a partial replacement for course aggregate in order to cut down cost and the utilization of natural aggregates. This also helps to reduce the wastage of ceramic tiles as they can now be used in the construction sector. Disposal of these wastes will be minimized thereby reducing environmental issues.
In this project, the use of ceramic waste as a partial replacement of coarse aggregates was carried out in the laboratory. Natural aggregates were used in different proportions. On the first test specimen, 0% of replacement was done, i.e. no ceramic, the result was recorded and used as the control value for the following replacements of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. Slump test was carried out and averaged at 55mm. Compressive strength of the concretes were tested at different curing duration of 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The content of the waste ceramic particle controls all the characteristics of the ceramics, i.e. workability, compressive strength, and the structure.
After conducting various tests on the partial replacement of coarse aggregate with ceramic tiles at 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%, it was observed from the results gotten that a replacement in the range of 10% was the most ideal. This indicates that waste ceramic particle can be used as a replacement of coarse aggregate up to 10% and can produce a good strength concrete with excellent workability. Consequently it can reduce the construction costs to a large extent since it will reduce the quantity of granite to be used which is a very expensive material.
