Mechanical properties of glass foam, sand and cement mixtures

In this work, the availability of glass foam, which is one of the recycling materials, produced using solid glass waste, as a component for Controlled Low Strength Material (CLSM) production was investigated. CLSM is a cementitious material used primarily as a backfill in place of compacted fill. Some amounts of sand were added to cement-glass foam mixtures and the effect of sand on unit weight and unconfined compression strength of the composites were determined. Engineering properties of the lightweight composite consisting of glass foam, sand and cement was determined by unit weight, unconfined compression, permeability and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests. It was observed that foam glass-sand-cement mixture has higher unconfined compression strength and CBR value in comparison with other lightweight fill materials and also it has better permeability properties. It was concluded that this composite soil can be used in fills where light weight is important.