ItemArticle

Assessing performance of alkali-activated bricks incorporated with processed surgical masks

Title
Assessing performance of alkali-activated bricks incorporated with processed surgical masks
Creator
Thoudam K.; Hossiney N.; Lakshmish Kumar S.; Alex J.; Bhalkikar A.; Fathima A.
Description
Since last few years the world is facing tremendous surge in the use of surgical masks due to the COVID19 pandemic. The uncontrolled disposal of surgical masks in the environment will pose serious threat to the living organisms due to plastic pollution. On the other hand, the construction industry is hugely dependent on natural resources, leading to increase in carbon footprint. Therefore, it necessary to investigate novel construction materials with sustainability perspective. In present study, alkali-activated bricks were synthesized with rice husk ash (RHA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), sand, and sodium silicate (SS). To this, processed surgical masks (PSM) were added in varying doses of 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% by volume of the mix. The results revealed that addition of PSM significantly improved the strength properties of the bricks with a maximum compressive strength of 6.85 MPa at inclusion of 4% PSM. At the same time, it has reduced the density of bricks with a minimum value of 1.54 g/cm3 at inclusion of 4% PSM. The incorporation of PSM has slightly increased the water absorption and porosity of the bricks, with a maximum increase of 4.76% and 7.75% for bricks with 4% PSM, when compared to bricks with 0% PSM, respectively. The accelerated ageing test showed that after three cycles of wetting and drying the bricks exhibited loss in compressive strength in the range of 55.2%58.6%. The microstructure results revealed the bridging effect of fibrous mask particles in improving the load transfer in polymer matrix, and thereby reducing the brittle tensile failure in bricks. The pushover analysis showed the benefit of PSM in improving the performance of the infill walls due to improvement in brick strength and reduction in its self-weight, and therefore, it can be considered as a potential material for use in construction of buildings in seismically vulnerable areas. 2023 The Author(s)
Source
Journal of Materials Research and Technology, Vol-25, pp. 6432-6445.
Date
2023-01-01
Publisher
Elsevier Editora Ltda
Subject
Alkali-activated; Bricks; Durability; Strength; Surgical masks
Coverage
Thoudam K., Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Bangalore, 560074, India; Hossiney N., Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Bangalore, 560074, India; Lakshmish Kumar S., Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Bangalore, 560074, India; Alex J., Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Bangalore, 560074, India; Bhalkikar A., Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Bangalore, 560074, India; Fathima A., Department of Civil Engineering, Christ University, Bangalore, 560074, India
Rights
All Open Access; Gold Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 22387854
Format
Online
Language
English
Type
Article

Collection

Articles

Citation

Thoudam K.; Hossiney N.; Lakshmish Kumar S.; Alex J.; Bhalkikar A.; Fathima A., “Assessing performance of alkali-activated bricks incorporated with processed surgical masks,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed February 25, 2025, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/14129.

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