Long Term Compressive Strength of Concrete made with Ceramic Waste as a Partial Substitute for Cement and Fine Aggregates
Omphemetse ZIMBILI, Ramadhan SALIM, Julius NDAMBUKI, Bolanle Deborah IKOTUN
Abstract. In response to environmental concerns from cement production and natural aggregate extraction, this study investigates ceramic waste (CW) as a partial substitute for cement and fine aggregates in concrete. With cement production contributing up to 8% of global CO₂ emissions, this research promotes the use of ceramic tile waste to support sustainable construction and the circular economy. It focuses particularly on the long-term mechanical performance of CW-modified concrete—an area with limited prior exploration. The study followed a two-stage experimental approach: an Initial Experiment (IE) conducted and completed ~9 years ago, and a more recent Validation Experiment (VE) to confirm and extend the findings. The optimized mix, labelled 16CC50CS, used 16% ceramic waste powder (CWP) in place of cement and 50% crushed ceramic sand (CS) instead of natural sand. Concrete specimens were tested for compressive strength over extended curing periods – up to 270 days in the VE. Results showed notable long-term strength improvements in CW-based mixes. Although the control mix showed better early strength in the IE, the 16CC50CS mix achieved 54.5 MPa vs. 44.4 MPa at 28 days, and in the VE, 69.7 MPa vs. 51.8 MPa at 270 days. Strength gains were linked to continued pozzolanic reactions, improved particle packing, and denser microstructure. It was concluded that ceramic waste, when properly processed and proportioned, enhances strength and durability while lowering the environmental impact. The study also confirmed reproducibility across different materials and test settings. The findings supported the practical use of CW in conventional concrete and call for further exploration in high-performance applications and under diverse conditions.
Keywords
Ceramic, Compressive, Pozzolanic, Validation, Waste
Published online 4/2/2026, 9 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Omphemetse ZIMBILI, Ramadhan SALIM, Julius NDAMBUKI, Bolanle Deborah IKOTUN, Long Term Compressive Strength of Concrete made with Ceramic Waste as a Partial Substitute for Cement and Fine Aggregates, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 63, pp 186-194, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904053-21
The article was published as article 21 of the book Advances in Cement and Concrete Research
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] A. S. Tarek, E.-D. A. Salah, and T. M. Reda, “Effect of High-Volume Ceramic Waste Powder as Partial Cement Replacement on Fresh and Compressive Strength of Self-Compacting Concrete,” Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, vol. 31, no. 2, p. 04018374, Feb. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002588
[2] M. Samadi et al., “Waste ceramic as low cost and eco-friendly materials in the production of sustainable mortars,” J Clean Prod, vol. 266, p. 121825, Sep. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2020.121825
[3] A. Sivakumar, S. Srividhya, V. Sathiyamoorthy, M. Seenivasan, and M. R. Subbarayan, “Impact of waste ceramic tiles as partial replacement of fine and coarse aggregate in concrete,” Mater Today Proc, vol. 61, pp. 224–231, Jan. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATPR.2021.08.142
[4] S. A. Zareei, F. Ameri, P. Shoaei, and N. Bahrami, “Recycled ceramic waste high strength concrete containing wollastonite particles and micro-silica: A comprehensive experimental study,” Constr Build Mater, vol. 201, pp. 11–32, Mar. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CONBUILDMAT.2018.12.161
[5] S. Ahmad, A. Anwar, B. S. Mohammed, M. B. A. Wahab, and S. A. Ahmad, “Strength behavior of concrete by partial replacement of fine aggregate with ceramic powder,” International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 5712–5718, Jul. 2019. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.B3366.078219
[6] L. Gautam, J. Kumar Jain, T. Alomayri, N. Meena, and P. Kalla, “Performance evaluation of self-compacting concrete comprising ceramic waste powder as fine aggregate,” Mater Today Proc, vol. 61, pp. 204–211, Jan. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATPR.2021.08.063
[7] M. Amin, B. A. Tayeh, and I. S. Agwa, “Effect of using mineral admixtures and ceramic wastes as coarse aggregates on properties of ultrahigh-performance concrete,” J Clean Prod, vol. 273, p. 123073, 2020. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123073
[8] S. Ray, M. Haque, S. A. Soumic, A. F. Mita, M. M. Rahman, and B. B. Tanmoy, “Use of ceramic wastes as aggregates in concrete production: A review,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 43, p. 102567, Nov. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JOBE.2021.102567
[9] P. Jain, R. Gupta, and S. Chaudhary, “A literature review on the effect of using ceramic waste as supplementary cementitious material in cement composites on workability and compressive strength,” Mater Today Proc, vol. 65, pp. 871–876, Jan. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATPR.2022.03.453
[10] SANS 1083, Aggregates from natural resources – Aggregates for concrete, South African Bureau of Standards, Pretoria, 2013
[11] ACI 211.1, Standard Practice for Selecting Proportions for Normal, Heavyweight, and Mass Concrete, ACI Committee 211, Farmington Hills, MI: American Concrete Institute, 1991.
[12] B. Addis and J. Goodman, “Concrete mix design,” Fulton’s concrete technology, pp. 219–228, 2009.
[13] SANS 5862-1, Concrete Tests – Consistence of freshly mixed concrete – Slump test, South Africa Bureau of Standards, Pretoria, 2006
[14] SANS 5863, Concrete tests – Compressive strength of hardened concrete, South African Bureau of Standards, Pretoria, 2006
