Mechanical properties of mortar containing recycled Acanthocardia tuberculata seashells as aggregate partial replacement

Waste management is a most current topic, and as such, numerous articles in literature discuss over the recycling and re-use of waste materials from various fields. A common solution is the to use these materials as partial substituent of the inert fraction in concretes and mortars. This work focuses on the possibility of using Acanthocardia tuberculata seashells, which constitute a food waste destined to landfilling, as partial substituents of inert in mortars. The results obtained evidenced that the reduction in mechanical properties (in terms of toughness and flexural stress) is mainly due to the water absorption properties of seashells aggregates, which affect the hydration of the cement. However, as experimentally demonstrated, such decrease in mechanical properties in any case does not compromise the performance of the material when used for civil applications.