Valorization of brick wastes in the fabrication of concrete blocks

This work focuses on the reuse of recycled brick waste (RBW) as aggregates in the fabrication of concrete blocks. The experimental study was focused on six different concrete compositions with a w/c ratio of 0.56, a relatively constant compactness and a slump value of zero. The six compositions consist on a control concrete with natural sand and five compositions with 10 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 % and 50 % of RBW as a partial substitute for the natural sand. The physical and mechanical properties of concrete blocks were studied, analyzed and compared. The obtained results showed that it is possible to manufacture concrete blocks based on RBW, and that the compressive strengths of these concrete blocks are comparable to that of the control concrete, but with an appreciable reduction in weight. The blocks made with 30 % of RBW showed an improvement in the compressive strength of 42 % and a reduction in weight of 11 % compared to the control concretes.