Mechanical and durability performance of concrete produced with recycled aggregates from Greek construction and demolition waste plants

Furthermore, concrete mixtures were prepared using an RA percentage ranging from 0% to 75%. Results indicate that the compressive strength of recycled concrete ranges from significantly lower (37% reduction) to equal, compared to conventional concrete, depending on the composition of RA. The majority of literature data relate the inferior quality of RA to their high water absorption, the findings of the present research though indicate that the presence of clay minerals has a more pronounced adverse effect to concrete's strength. As for the durability properties examined, i.e. water absorption, sorptivity, frost and carbonation resistance, the recycled concrete mixtures exhibited somewhat lower performance than reference concrete.