Carbonation Behavior of Mortar Made from Treated Recycled Aggregates: Influence of Diammonium Phosphate

This research aims to improve the quality of recycled concrete fine aggregates (RFA) by using diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP). We aimed to understand the effect of DAP treatment on durability performance due to the carbonation action of mortars with the partial and total substitution of treated RFA. The results showed a maximum reduction in the RFA water absorption of up to 33% using a minimum DAP concentration due to a pore refinement as a consequence of the formation of calcium phosphates such as hydroxyapatite (HAP). The carbonation phenomenon did not have a significant effect on the durability of mortars with DAP-treated RFA, as we did not find a decrease in the compressive strength; the carbonation depth of the mortars with 100% treated RFA decreased up to 90% and 63% for a w/c of 0.45 and 0.50, in comparison with mortars with 0% treated RFA. An inversely proportional relationship was found between the accelerate carbonation and the compressive strength, showing that higher percentages of treated RFAs in the mortar promoted an increase in compressive strength and a decrease in the carbonation rate, which is behavior associated with a lower permeability of the cement matrix as one of the consequences of the microstructural densification by DAP treatment.