Eco epo-seal, an ancillary construction material: pathway to circularity in Industry 5.0

The study aims to develop Eco epo-seal, ancillary construction material without incorporating conventional materials. Discarded mine waste (DMW), epoxy, Industrial by-products such as Porous Fine Aggregate Like (PFAL) and Iron and Steel Waste (ISW) were employed. A total of 36 compositions were attempted by varying DMW (7–27%), PFAL (37–81%), ISW (0–12%) and epoxy (10–30%). The performance of Eco epo-seal was evaluated as density (1065.2 kg/m 3 for B1 to 1763 kg/m 3 for W3), water absorption (0.23% for W1 under normal condition to 68.07% for B3 under long-term alkaline condition), porosity (0.0037 for Z3 to 0.479 for A2), compressive strength (2.36 MPa for A3 under normal condition to 39.44 MPa for W1 under long-term alkaline condition), flexural strength (0.41 MPa for Q2 to 15.64 MPa for W1) and ultrasonic pulse velocity (0.8 Km/s for B3 to 2.58 Km/s for W1). Among the raw materials, epoxy content greatly influences the performance in normal condition. On comparing performance under long-term and long-term alkaline conditions with normal condition, compositions with higher epoxy content show improved performance, while lower epoxy content exhibit reduced performance. Multiple linear regression using principal component analysis was employed to model the performance. The porosity, density, water absorption, compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity of Eco epo-seal vary linearly, while flexural strength follows a nonlinear trend. Eco epo-seal is a versatile composite suitable for various civil engineering applications, circular approach adopted is a one-step solution to prevailing waste management issues and positions infrastructure industry as a forerunner in cleaner practices of Industry 5.0.