Granite is extensively used in the construction industry; however, substantial solid waste is produced during production. This study focused on the feasibility of replacing cement with granite powder (GP) in cement mortar by investigating various properties, like consistency, water retention, density, setting time, compressive strength, and flexural strength, under different replacement rates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is employed to study different replacement rates on the microstructure of cement mortar. Cement is replaced with GP at various rates ranging from 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% in four strength grades of mortar (M5, M7.5, M10, and M15) to determine optimal parameters. Results indicated improved water retention, low density, and decreased setting time. Mortar consistency increased and decreased with increasing replacement rate, a maximum of 15%. Compressive and flexural strengths showed a similar trend with a maximum of 10% replacement rate. SEM images indicate that when replacement rates were less than 10%, the microaggregate and nucleation effects were dominant, producing denser mortar structures with reduced porosity. The rates exceeding 10% significantly reduced the binder material, leading to larger voids between aggregates and binder materials.
Dou et al. (Thu,) studied this question.