Development of sustainable lightweight concrete with apparel industry waste: Mechanical, durability, non-destructive, and statistical evaluation

Abstract

The fast-growing urban and industrial developments have substantially increased the amount of waste production, causing serious environmental problems for the building sector. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate the performance of sustainable lightweight concrete (SLWC), incorporating 25–100% waste pumice aggregate (WPA), collected from the waste of the apparel industry, from partial to full substitutions of natural coarse aggregate (NCA). For this purpose, fresh, mechanical, durability, and microstructural properties were evaluated by workability, density, strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), water absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and statistical analysis of SPSS. The results showed that the higher the WPA content, the less workability (18–56%), the lower the density (11–37%), and a reduction in the mechanical strengths as a result of the porousness of WPA. UPV decreased by 15–66%, while water absorption increased by 45–76%, indicating higher porosity, confirmed by SEM analysis. Statistical analysis showed positive correlations between density, strength, and UPV, and negative correlations with water absorption. Despite strength reductions, WPA-based SLWC demonstrated sustainability benefits through waste utilization, lower self-weight, conservation of natural aggregates, and reduced environmental impact, supporting its application in lightweight and non-structural construction applications such as PCC pedestals, curbs of the road, floors, partition walls, precast blocks, and filler concrete.