Effects of incorporating silica glass powder as a supplementary cementitious material on selected properties of portland cement mortar

The use of waste glass powder as a partial replacement for cement is an emerging practice for sustainable cement-based construction. Several studies have demonstrated that finely ground-powdered glass could be an interesting supplementary cementitious material (SCM). However, the performance of such material is influenced by the chemical composition of glass and its pozzolanic reactivity. In this context, the goal of this study is to investigate the use of silica-glass powder (SGP), which is characterized by a high content of silica (>96%), as a partial replacement of Portland cement in mortar. In this research work, mortars containing 7.5%, 10, 12.5, 15 and 20% SGP in replacement of an amount of cement, with three different water-to-binder ratios of 0.55, 0.60 and 0.65 are studied. Selected properties have been investigated at both fresh and hardened stages, which include workability, air content, flexural and compressive strengths estimated by destructive and non-destructive methods, water absorption by capillarity, permeability to chlorides and chloride ions diffusion. The experimental results confirm that incorporating SGP improves the mechanical strength of the mortar, notably in the long-term, and can considerably enhance its durability properties, especially by a decrease in sorptivity of the mortar and by an increase of its resistance to chloride ions diffusion. Correlations between selected physical and mechanical properties and certain durability indices are also established and discussed in this study. •Silica-glass powder (SGP) was added in mortar replacing an amount of cement.•Fresh and hardened properties of SGP-modified mortar were discussed.•SGP showed promising performance in terms of mechanical and durability properties.•For achieving the best mechanical strength, the optimum SGP content was 12.5 %.•Relationship between the sorptivity and Cl− diffusion coefficients were given.