22 JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2, JUNE 2018 Utilization of Waste Iron Powder as Fine Aggregate in Cement Mortar Bassam A. Tayeh 1 Doha M. Al Saffar 2 1 Civil Engineering Department, The Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza, Palestine, btayeh@iugaza.edu.ps 2 Civil Engineering Department, Al Mansour University College, Baghdad, Iraq, doha.mothefer@muc.edu.iq Abstract— This paper reports about the use of recycled iron powder (IP) in producing cement mortar under normal conditions. Flow table test was performed on fresh mortar. Destructive tests were conducted on cubes of the hardened mortar to obtain the compressive and flexural strengths of the cement mortar. The effects of adding 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of waste IP as a natural sand replacement were assessed and compared. Waste iron are of two types: iron IP, which shows a similar particle size distribution to that of the sand used in making the samples, and fine iron powder (FIP), which contains fine particles. The compressive strength decreased with the increased amount of added IP in the mixtures, but it increased with the addition of 10% FIP and decreased gradually with the increased FIP level. By contrast, the flexural strength significantly increased with increased FIP in the mixtures. Recommendations regarding the applications of recycling to conserve resources and raw materials and prevent environmental pollution are provided. Index Terms— Recycled materials, iron powder, waste materials, green product I INTRODUCTION Concrete is currently the most widely used construction material worldwide; its numerous applications include that in bridges, dams, house constructions, highway pavements, and sidewalks [1]. The use of manufactured fine aggregates has been increasing in the United States because good-quality natural sand is not economically viable in many areas. Manufactured fine aggregates differ from natural sand in terms of grading, particle shape, and texture [2]. Research and field experience have shown that good- quality concrete with proper workability and finishabil- ity can be realized using manufactured fine aggregates [3,4]. Various image analysis techniques [5,6] have been used to determine the shape and texture of aggre- gates. The increasing amount of waste iron in the Gaza Strip is one of the major environmental issues in Gaza. The large amount of wastes originates from the industrial sector. These wastes are deposited in landfills. The pre- sent study investigated the utilization of the large amount of iron waste from workshops, factories, and demolished buildings in building construction. Conse- quently, new opportunities will be created with the use of new material in construction, thereby improving many of the overall building parameters. Moreover, the shortage of natural sand in several areas has been in- creasing annually [7-12]. In recent years, commonly recycled materials can be used for either building con- structions or road repairs, such as that of asphalt pav- ing. These materials include wood, gypsum wallboard, building concrete, and metals. Thus, in this study, waste iron powder (IP) was reused as a partial sand replace- ment in a mortar mixture to achieve higher compressive strengths and flexural strengths than those with stand- ard mortar mixes [7-13]. The municipal waste components in Gaza City consist of organic matter (57%), paper and cardboard (15%), plastics (15%), iron metal (4%), glass (3%), and other materials (6%), as shown in Fig. 1. This study mainly aimed to evaluate the use of waste IP in cement mortar mixtures and its effects on their prop- erties. This objective was achieved as follows: first, the effects of adding different percentages of waste were examined and compared with that of a conventional mixture. Afterward, the optimum percentage of waste IP added to the mortar mixture to enhance its properties was determined. This study also aimed to evaluate the effects of using waste IP as a part of the solution for environmental catastrophes resulting from disposal. The cement mor- tar performance was improved by using waste IP as a sand replacement in the mixture.