The PhD student from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) Eva María Sánchez García defended her thesis with two lightweight concrete cylinders that she developed during her doctoral research and which have demonstrated their technical viability by passing the strength and durability tests carried out first in the laboratory and then in the cement plant of Cementos la Cruz, which together with CDTI financed the project in which the research is framed.
To reduce the weight of the concrete, the researcher and her thesis supervisor, Carlos Parra Costa, have replaced almost half the volume of gravel and sand with recycled plastic and cork discarded by the agricultural industry. The inclusion of recycled aggregates is the novelty of the thesis compared to other lightweight concretes for structural use.
