SCC: a way to sustainable construction development

The development of self-compacting concrete is considered as a milestone achievement in concrete technology due to several performance advantages and to an improved sustainability. In this work, some self-compacting concrete mixtures were prepared by adding an acrylic based superplasticizer. Limestone powder, fly ash or rubble powder (obtained by suitably treating rubble from building demolition) or even ash from municipal solid waste incineration were used as a mineral addition, in order that adequate theological properties of the self-compacting concrete were ensured in the absence of a viscosity modifying agent. In some cases, recycled instead of natural aggregates were used by substituting either the coarse or the fine aggregate fraction. The recycled aggregates were directly supplied by an industrial crushing plant in which debris from building demolition are suitably selected, ground, cleaned and sieved. Then, important properties, related to both fresh and hardened concrete, were evaluated. The results obtained showed that self-compacting concrete can be successfully developed by incorporating both recycled aggregates and waste powders, thus contributing to sustainability issues.