Abstract

Recycling and recovery of waste are today considered a solution for the future in order to respond to the deficit between production and consumption and to protect the environment. The objective of this work is to evaluate the durability characteristics of mortars reinforced with PET fibers and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) or silica fume as mineral additions. Different mixtures were exposed in the external sulphate attacks and tested for mechanical strength, loss of weight at different ages. The analysis of tests results showed that the mineralogy, morphology and the rate of mineral admixtures are significant factors affecting the durability of mortars. The mortars with silica fume after one year of conservation in a high magnesium sulphate medium (MgSO4) present the lowest damage compared to mortar with GGBFS.

Keywords:Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS); Sulphate attack; PET fibers; Mechanical strength; Microstructure