EVALUATING THE PROPERTIES OF MASONRYBLOCKS BOUND WITH BITUMEN

Abstract

This paper covers investigation which was carried out in the United
Kingdom (UK), where utilization of waste materials in building industry had been
encouraged in line with the UK government strategy to reduce waste disposal to
landfill. The investigation was about building block named as Masonryblock, a
masonry building block material that incorporates waste materials, namely steel
slag, crushed glass, and coal fly ash, bound with bitumen (asphalt). The binder used
was 50 pen bitumen. The materials were hot mixed, statically compacted then
cured at 200°C for 24 hours. The main properties of the blocks evaluated were
compressive strength, creep and volume stability due to moisture and thermal
exposure. It was found that the Masonryblock compressive strength was
comparable or even can exceed the compressive strength of concrete block
commonly used in the UK (2.8-10 MPa), and can satisfy creep strain < 100
microstrain. The volume stability of the Masonryblock was found affected by
moisture exposure. The samples expanded due to higher relative humidity and vice
versa. On thermal exposure the samples expanded and the expansion was found
highly reversible. The Masonryblocks gave coefficient of thermal expansion
comparable to clay bricks.