Durability Assessment of Cement Mortars with Recycled Ceramic Powders

Although substantial knowledge exists regarding the use of ceramic powders as pozzolanic supplementary cementitious materials, a notable gap remains in the literature concerning the durability properties of cement with ceramics. This research aims to address this gap by evaluating the effects of ceramic powders on mortar durability, specifically focusing on resistance to freeze-thaw, high temperatures, and 1% sulphuric acid. The study also investigates the use of recycled ceramic demolition waste as a replacement for calcined clay in limestone calcined clay (LC3) formulations. This research demonstrates the potential of using ceramic waste to enhance mortar durability. The results show significant improvements in freeze-thaw resistance, with strength losses of 1.91% to 2.61% for modified mortars, compared to 6.31% for the reference mortar. Fire resistance also improves, with strength gains of up to 13.9% at 200 °C for LC3 mortars with ceramic powder. At 500 °C, strength losses ranged from 2.8% to 31.9%, with ceramic-containing mortars showing better performance than the reference. At 900 °C, substantial strength losses occurred across all mixes (72.0% to 90.0%), with mortars containing ultrafine ceramic powder showing the best resistance. Resistance to 1% sulphuric acid is enhanced, with strength losses decreasing from 9.37% in the reference mortar to 1.38% in LC3 mortar with ceramic powder.