Utilisation of imploded glass in structural concrete

Land-filling waste has become a problem and a waste in itself. A lot of material that is being land-filled can be reused with minimal processing reducing demand on natural resources and landfills. Concrete is an ideal material for the reuse of glass and other waste materials. Crushed glass has been used as aggregate replacement resulting in a poor bond and concrete exhibiting alkali–silica reaction (ASR). Reduction to finer particles and use as cement replacement produced good quality concrete that did not exhibit ASR. The implosion technology results in waste glass that is easier to handle and of a much better quality to reuse and is thus an improvement over glass crushing. The aim of this study was to compare concretes using waste glass that had been either crushed or imploded replacing the cement in 10–50% proportions.

▸ Waste glass can be imploded thus reduced to fine sharp free particles. ▸ Imploded glass can be used as a cement replacement in structural concrete. ▸ Replacement of 40% of the cement with imploded glass resulted in concrete with adequate properties. ▸ Concrete with 10–20% glass replacing the cement exhibited a high resistance to chloride ion penetration.