Argamassa com substituição parcial do agregado miúdo convencional por resíduo de EPS

Abstract

Civil Construction, following a global trend, has sought sustainable alternatives to develop the sector. The use of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) residue as a substitute for sand in mortars combines the difficulty of obtaining natural sand with the difficulty of correctly disposing of EPS, a material whose recycling is not economically viable. This study aimed to investigate the possibility of partial replacement of the conventional fine aggregate with EPS residues in the settlement mortars, to produce more flexible mortars and, consequently, that suffer less cracking. Thereunto, conventional mortars were produced with 2.5%, 5.00% and 10.00% substitution, by mass, of the conventional fine aggregate with EPS residue and 1: 1: 4 ratio. With this material, capillarity tests, tensile strength in bending, resistance to axial compression and modulus of elasticity were performed. The results showed that the mortar with the best performance was the one with 2.50% replacement, indicating that its use as a mortar for laying masonry is viable and can reduce the formation of cracks.