Development of treated coarse recycled aggregate-based sustainable fibrous high-strength concrete with fine recycled aggregates

This research aims to develop sustainable high-strength concrete (SHSC) by replacing 100% fine and/or coarse aggregates with fine recycled aggregate (RA) and/or coarse RA. Due to the high surface water absorption of coarse RA, a surface treatment method was adopted, consisting of immersing it in a cement and silica fume slurry. Moreover, to improve the performance of the produced SHSC, steel fibers were employed at a relatively low volume fraction (0.5%). Eleven blends were cast and tested in this experimental study. A control SHSC mix (without RA) and ten other mixtures, including fine natural and RA, treated and untreated coarse RA, with and without steel fibers, were prepared. Compressive, splitting, and flexural strengths, water absorption, density, and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) of the resulting SHSC were conducted. The results indicated that the use of RA in SHSC resulted in an average drop of 25% in its mechanical properties and an increase of about 30% in water absorption. However, using treated RA compensated the compressive and tensile strength reductions in SHSC by 9% and 7%, respectively, compared to mixes containing untreated RA. On the other hand, adding fibers helped improve compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile strengths by about 8%, 23%, and 31%, respectively, compared to the corresponding control mix. Consequently, the results showed that it is possible to produce durable SHSC made from 100% RA and 0.5% steel fibers with a reduced density and improved mechanical performance to a comparable level or even superior to high-strength concrete (HSC) with only natural aggregates (NAs).