Waste printed circuit boards nonmetallic powder as admixture in cement mortar

In this paper, the nonmetallic powder recycled from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) is used in cement mortar as admixture. The mechanical properties, bulk density, air content, water-retention property, shrinkage rate and water capillary adsorption are tested. The results show that the waste PCBs nonmetallic powder causes an increase in air content and improves the water-retention property of fresh mortar, decreases the bulk density of hardened mortar. The compressive strength and flexural strength of mortar with PCBs nonmetallic powder change slightly with the m p/m c below 15%. The tensile bond strength goes down continuously with the increase of the m p/m c but the reducing trend in the m p/m c range from 0 to 10% is slow. The drying shrinkage rate of mortar has little change as the m p/m c varies from 0 to 15%. The water capillary adsorption of mortar with the m p/m c of 5, 10 and 15% are lower than that of control. Cement mortar made with recycled waste PCBs nonmetallic powder is a new type of green building materials, which is friendly to environment and has broad application prospects.