Abstract
Expanded glass material is made of waste crushed bottle foamed by calcination (900 to 1000 degree Celsius). The material includes innumerable air bubbles, so the expanded glass aggregate is much weaker than gravels and crushed stones which are used at the construction works. In this paper, in order to clarify the physical and mechanical characteristics (size and shape of the air bubbles, crushability, permeability) of expanded glass aggregate, the aggregate is investigated with a series of laboratory tests (soaking, crushing and permeability tests) at different air content.
The following conclusions are obtained from the present study: (1) The air content of the expanded glass material is almost occupied with discontinuous air bubbles. (2) The size of the discontinuous air bubbles and density of the material affect crushability of the expanded glass aggregate directly. (3) The crushability of expanded glass aggregate which has relatively small air bubbles is similar to that of lapilli. (4) Even if the expanded glass aggregate is crushed remarkably, its permeability can be kept sufficiently.
