The use of laterite in portland cement concrete

摘要

The study of the alternative building materials for use as coarse aggregate in Portland Cement Concrete, is of notable significance to some equatorial regions of the world especially where the quality of traditional materails is poor, like north of Brazil. This paper has an objective to estimate the performance of laterites in concrete. In total, three batches were established, the first mix composed of laterite coarse aggregate; the second with granite coarse aggregate; and the third, a mix composed of lateritc and granite. Although the laterites required some special attention for handling, and showed compressive strengths of about 20 approx 30 percent lower than normal concrete, the results showed it was possible to use this material as coarse aggregate in concrete production.