Amelioration of crushed brick - lime composites using nano-additives

Crushed brick is widely known as a pozzolanic additive for composite building materials. However, Crushed brick - lime composites usually show high porosity, low compressive strength and slow reaction kinetics. In this paper, we present multidisciplinary research on the amelioration of crushed brick - lime composites, using nanosilica (SiO2) and nanotitania (TiO2) as additives at 3% w/w of binder. The results suggest that despite the dominant effect of the crushed brick, nanosilica significantly improves the early age properties of the composites, while nanotitania potentially increases their resistance against salt crystallization. Supplementary FTIR, DTA/TG and SEM analyses confirm the better hydration and carbonation evolution of lime composites with crushed brick and nano-additives. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.