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Use of waste marble dust in Concrete

Ankita Khatri1, Abhishek Kanoungo2 and Dr. Umesh Sharma3

1. P.G. Student, Deptt. of Civil Engineering. PEC University of Technology, Sector-12 Chandigarh.
2. P.G. Student, Deptt. of Civil Engineering, PEC University of Technology, Sector-12 Chandigarh.
3. Deptt. of Civil Engineering. PEC University of Technology, Sector-12 Chandigarh

Abstract

Marble has been commonly used as a building material since the ancient times. Consequently, Marble
waste as a by-product is a very important material which requires adequate environmental disposal
effort. In addition, recycling waste without proper management can result in environmental problems
greater than the waste itself.
Marble dust is a waste product formed during the production of marble. A large quantity of powder
is generated during the cutting process. The result is that about 25% of the original marble mass is
lost in the form of dust. Leaving these waste materials to the environment directly can cause
environmental problems such as increases the soil alkalinity, affects the plants, affects the human
body etc.
Marble powder can be used as an admixture in concrete, so that strength of the concrete can be
increased. It is a solid waste material generated from the marble processing and can be used either as
a filler material in cement or fine aggregates while preparing concrete. The production of cheaper and
more durable concrete using this waste can solve to some extent the ecological and environmental
problems.
This paper highlights, the feasibility of the substitution of marble waste for cement to attain economy
and environment saving.
Keywords: marble dust, environmental problems, admixture, concrete.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 General

Recycling waste as useful material is a very important environmental management tool for achieving
sustainable development. On the other hand, recycling waste without properly based scientific
research and development can result in environmental problems greater than the waste itself. In India,
about 6 million tons of wastes from marble industries are being released from marble cutting,
polishing, processing and grinding. In Tamil Nadu state, Salem is an area that concentrates a large
quantity of marble process industries, which are responsible by the disposing of hundreds of tons of
wastes in the environment per year. This scene is even more aggravated by the increasing production
in the last decade, getting attention from all society with the destination of disposal wastes. The marble
dust is usually possesses a major environmental concern. In dry season, the marble powder or dust
dangles in the air, flies and deposits on vegetation and crop. All these significantly affect the
environment and local ecosystems. The marble dust disposed in the river-bed and around the
production facilities cause reduction in porosity and permeability of the topsoil and results in water
logging. Further, fine particles results in poor fertility of the soil due to increase in alkalinity.

1.2 Environmental Problems Attributed to Waste Marble Powder (WMP)

The WMP imposes serious threats to ecosystem, physical, chemical and biological components of
environment. Problems encountered are:

o It adversely affects the productivity of land due to decreased porosity, water absorption, water
percolation etc.

o When dried, it becomes air borne and cause severe air pollution. Introduces occupational
health problems, it also affects machinery and instruments installed in industrial areas.

o Affecting quality of water during rainy season, and reducing storage capacities and damaging
aquatic life.

o It adversely affect social and industrial activities of people since the heaps of powder remain
scattered all round the country are an eye sore and spoil aesthetics of entire region.

Fig. 1
It is therefore a social and legal responsibility of government and industry to solve the problem of
WMP pollution. As such, development of country is only possible by sustainable balanced
industrialization. Thus, new approaches that consider industrial wastes as alternative raw materials
becomes interesting, both technically and economically, for a wide range of applications. Of our
particular interest is the use of WMP in cement industry as a filler for the production of concrete.

1.3 Objective

Use of industrial wastes and by products as an aggregate or raw material is of great practical
significance developing building material components as substitutes for materials and providing an
alternative or supplementary materials to the housing industry in a cost effective manner and the
conservation of natural resources. Because of the environmental threats associated with the WMP
(waste marble powder), their proper disposal has attracted a lot of attention of the environmentalists
in the last years. In order to properly dispose of these hundreds to thousands of tonnes of powder, the
use of innovative techniques to recycle them is important. Without the proper disposal of this powder
material, the resulting stockpiles would cause major health risks for the public and the environment.
Therefore, the objective of this paper is to study the possibility to incorporate marble sawing powder
wastes as a filler in concrete and also in brick products with no major sacrifice of the properties of the
final product and thereby reducing the ill effects of Marble dust.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Marble dust is crushed or ground marble particles that can still be formed to make a solid object.
Waste marble powder is generated as a by-product during cutting of marble. The waste is
approximately in the range of 20% of the total marble handled. The amount of waste marble powder
generated at the study site every year is very substantial being in the range of 250-400 tones. The dust
is used in many more instances than marble itself because of its lower cost and versatility. Marble
dust is typically mixed with cement or resins to make cultured marble, which looks similar to true
marble.

The marble cutting plants are dumping the powder in any nearby pit or vacant spaces, near their unit
although notified areas have been marked for dumping. This leads to serious environmental and dust
pollution and occupation of vast area of land especially after the powder dries up (as shown in Figure
2). This also may leads to contamination of the underground water reserves.
Fig. 2 Dumping of Marble dust

2.1 Origin

Marble dust comes from crushed marble, which is formed by the crystallization of limestone or
dolostone. The crystals appear as a calcite material through different atmospheric and temperature
changes. The pressure present in the formation of marble destroys any other objects in the rock
creating a dense, smooth rock. Colored marble is produced when different amounts of silt, clay and
other objects are mixed with the limestone.

2.2 Identification

Marble dust is characterized by its fine powdery texture, similar to that of crushed limestone. Since
marble is a harder, crystallized rock, the dust is not comprised of soft particles. The dust also has a
slight shimmer to it because of the crystallized particles, and it can also be discolored with brown,
grey, yellow, pink or even greenish particles due to impurities in the original marble.

2.3 Types

The different types of marble dust often are named for the country it originates from. Carrara marble
dust comes from Italy, and is the kind used in many Roman sculptures. Pentelicus dust comes from
Greece, and was used for many Greek sculptures and buildings. Another kind of marble dust
originates from Proconnesus, a quarry in Turkey.

2.4 Uses

Marble dust is mixed with concrete, cement or synthetic resins to make counters, building stones,
sculptures, floors and many other objects. Marble dust give an iridescent feel to the object because of
the crystallized particles present in the dust from the marble. These cultured marble objects are often
seen in luxury settings. Synthetic marble objects made with marble dust are more commonly used
than 100 percent solid marble objects. Marble dust is also used to make paint primer for canvas
paintings, and as a paint filler.

2.5 Significance

Individuals who cannot afford solid marble to use in furniture, buildings, floors and other objects will
often turn to objects that include marble dust instead. Not only can it look like the real thing, it's easier
to transport than solid marble.

3. MATERIAL PROPERTIES

3.1 Physical Properties

Table 1:

Color White
Form Powder
Odor Odorless
Moisture Content (%): 1.59

3.2. Chemical Properties

Table 2:

Oxide compounds Marble Dust (Mass %)


SiO2 28.35
Al2O3 0.42

Fe203 9.70

CaO 40.45
MgO 16.25
Density (g/cm3) 2.80

4. APPLICATION OF MARBLE DUST

4.1 Filler

Fillers are particles added to material (plastics, composite material, and concrete) to lower the
consumption of more expensive binder material or to better some properties of the mixtured material.
Fillers have a profound effect on concrete in both the fresh and hardened state. Especially as the
development of more effective super-plasticizers has made it possible to increase the amount of fillers
which opens new opportunity and fields of application. The particles may be used to reduce the
amount of cement and give the fresh concrete other properties, example, self-compatibility. Fillers
can be made, but large quantities are also available as by-products from different industries. Use of
these products will benefit the environment, since it will reduce the need for deposition. At the same
time, the use of by-products can reduce cement consumption, which is also positive for the
environment.

The fillers interact with the cement in several ways. The may be chemically inert but can still
indirectly influence the chemical structure of the cement paste and concrete in a positive way. The
large surface of the small particles may foster nucleation, densify and homogenize the paste.
Moreover, it will influence the concrete by giving it other rheological properties, which in turn will
influence also the properties of the hardened concrete.

Addition of filler particles can affect the concrete in three ways: -

 On the physical level- filler effect, when the added particles fill the inter-granular voids
between cement particles and thus improve the compactness of the concrete.
 On the surface chemical level- when the added particles enhance hydration by acting as
nucleation sites, becoming an integrated part of the cement paste.
 On the chemical level- when the particles react with a component and the cement, for example
with calcium hydroxide and thus from cement gel.
Fig. 3 Cross section of filler in concrete

4.1.1 Marble dust as filler

Marble dust can be used either to produce new pro- ducts or as an admixture so that the natural sources
are used more efficiently and the environment is saved from dumpsites of marble waste. Many studies
have been conducted in literature on the performance of the concrete containing waste marble dust or
waste marble aggregate, such as its addition into self-compacting concrete as an admixture or sand,
as well as its utilization in the mixture of asphaltic concrete and its utilization as an additive in cement
production, the usage of marble as a coarse aggregate and as a fine aggregate passing through 1 mm
sieve.

Fig. 4 Marble powdered dust


Generally, in literature waste marble dust has been replaced with either all of the fine aggregate (0 -
4 mm) or passing 1 mm sieve. However, not a single study on the performance of the concrete
prepared by replacing very fine sand (passing 0.25 mm sieve) with WMD. The studies concerning
the utilization of marble dust, which is obtained as a by-product of marble sawing and shaping
processes in the factories those operating in our region as a fine sand aggregate into the normal
strength concrete have not reached a convincing conclusion; in other words, additional studies and
investigations are necessary to fully evaluate the potential usages of this waste material. Therefore,
the aim of this current study is to avoid the environmental pollution.

4.2 In Industrial brick


The usability of waste marble dust as an additive material in industrial brick was that the amount of
marble dust additive had positive effect on the physical, chemical and mechanical strength of the
produced industrial brick. With increasing demands of the construction industry, bricks quality and
cost become more important day by day. In addition, the usage of marble wastes for the production
of industrial bricks has significant important role on the recycling waste marble powder in the brick
production along with a great contributions to economy and ecology of the country.

Use of industrial wastes and by products as an aggregate or raw material is of great practical
significance developing building material components as substitutes for materials and providing an
alternative or supplementary materials to the housing industry in a cost effective manner and the
conservation of natural resources. The physical property studies, records that the addition of marble
waste mixture imparts physical strength to the bricks when they are kilned at higher temperature.
More specifically, bulk density, compressive strength, flexural strength was found to increase due to
the addition of the above mixtures. This is because of the fact that the addition of the mineral matter
especially quartz and feldspar to the clay, act as flux when they are kilned at higher temperature as
evidenced by the physical test of the bricks.

4.3 Substitute of Limestone in Cement

The WMP based clinkers were found to contain the expected cementitious phases and a good
agreement was obtained between the characterizations techniques used. The WMP based cement
obtained from wastes shows a stronger hardening character than the standard material, which tends
to show dusting phenomena due to the presence of a reasonable amount of free lime (as the result of
its expansive reaction with ambient moisture). Some fluxing impurities (e.g. alkalis) present in the
waste materials improve the overall reactivity of the mixture.

This newly develop binder is parallel to other conventional binder in the field of building construction
like Lime, cement and other admixture but is different from them as it utilizes WMP with other
ingredients. WMP based cement is capable of improving hardened concrete performance up to 16%,
enhancing fresh concrete behavior and can be used in architectural concrete mixtures containing white
cement. The new binder is environment friendly, cheaper in cost from the other conventional material
also it involves small equipment with no complicated technologies and requires very low energy for
manufacturing.

5. METHODOLOGY

5.1 Marble waste characterization:

A. Tests for Physical Properties

 Specific Gravity and Water Absorption (ASTM C - 128)


The specific gravity of an aggregate is considered to be a measure of strength or quality of the
material. The specific gravity test helps in the identification of the stone.
Water absorption gives an idea of strength of aggregate. Aggregates having more water
absorption are more porous in nature and are generally considered unsuitable unless they are
found to be acceptable based on strength impact and hardness test.
 Grain Size Analysis (ASTM C - 117)
This test is performed to determine the percentage of different grain sizes contained within a
soil. The mechanical or sieve analysis is performed to determine the distribution of the coarser,
larger-sized particles, and the hydrometer method is used to determine the distribution of the
finer particles.
The distribution of different grain sizes affects the engineering properties of soil. Grain size
analysis provides the grain size distribution, and it is required in classifying the soil.
 Fineness (ASTM C - 204)
This method serves only to demonstrate the presence of coarse cement particles. This method
is primarily suited to checking and controlling production process.
The fineness of cement is measured by sieving it on standard sieves. The proportion of cement
of which the grain sizes are larger than the specified mesh size is thus determined.

B. Test for Chemical Analysis (ASTM C - 1271)

Chemical testing capabilities include advanced trace chemical analysis, diverse analytical capabilities
and identification of chemicals composition, unknown materials and chemical contamination.

 Chemical Quality and Purity

 Analysis of Chemical Ingredients

 Chemical Trace Analysis

 Routine Testing and Non-routine testing

 Petro-chemicals Testing

 Forensic Analytical and Scientific Services

 Contamination Analysis

C. Test for Thermal Analysis (ASTM D - 7348)

 Thermal analysis is a branch of materials science where the properties of materials are studied
as they change with temperature. Several methods are commonly used – these are
distinguished from one another by the property which is measured:

 Dielectric thermal analysis (DEA): dielectric permittivity and loss factor

 Differential thermal analysis (DTA): temperature difference

 Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC): heat difference

 Dilatometry (DIL): volume

 Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) : mechanical stiffness and damping

 Thermo-optical analysis(TOA): optical properties


5.2 Properties of control concrete and concrete with marble dust:

A. Workability- Slump test (ASTM C - 1437)

The concrete slump test is an empirical test that measures the workability of fresh concrete. More
specifically, it measures the consistency of the concrete in that specific batch. This test is performed
to check the consistency of freshly made concrete. Consistency is a term very closely related to
workability. It is a term which describes the state of fresh concrete. It refers to the ease with which
the concrete flows. It is used to indicate the degree of wetness. Workability of concrete is mainly
affected by consistency i.e. wetter mixes will be more workable than drier mixes, but concrete of the
same consistency may vary in workability. It is also used to determine consistency between individual
batches.

B. Compressive Strength Test (ASTM C - 109)

The compressive strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to reduce
size. It can be measured by plotting applied force against deformation in a testing machine. Some
material fracture at their compressive strength limit; others deform irreversibly, so a given amount of
deformation may be considered as the limit for compressive load. Compressive strength is a key value
for design of structures.

C. Flexural-Strength Test (ASTM C - 78)

Flexural strength, also known as modulus of rupture, bend strength, or fracture strength, a mechanical
parameter for brittle material, is defined as a material's ability to resist deformation under load.[ The
transverse bending test is most frequently employed, in which a specimen having either a circular or
rectangular cross-section is bent until fracture or yielding using a three point flexural test technique.
The flexural strength represents the highest stress experienced within the material at its moment of
rupture.

D. Splitting Tensile Strength Test (ASTM C - 496)


The tensile strength is one of the basic and important properties of the concrete. The concrete is not
usually expected to resist the direct tension because of its low tensile strength and brittle nature.
However, the determination of tensile strength of concrete is necessary to determine the load at which
the concrete members may crack. The cracking is a form of tension failure.

The direct method suffers from a number of difficulties related to holding the specimen properly in
the testing machine without introducing stress concentration, and to the application of uniaxial tensile
load which is free from eccentricity to the specimen. As the concrete is weak in tension even a small
eccentricity of load will induce combined bending and axial force condition and the concrete fails at
the apparent tensile stress other than the tensile strength.

6. CONCLUSION

 Due to the high fineness of marble dust, it proves to be effective in assuring good cohesiveness
of concrete in the presence of a super-plasticizing admixture, provided that water to cement
ratio was just adequate.
 The use of marble dust in construction might be cost effective because this waste is available
free of cost.
 It will help in improving environmental problem due to indiscriminate disposal of huge waste
generated from marble industries.
 The incorporation of marble wastes has negligible effect on the mechanical properties during
the entire process, anticipating no costly modifications in the industrial production line.
 The possibility to use the marble wastes as an alternative raw material in the production of
clay-based products will also induce a relief on waste disposal concerns.
 The concrete series that employed WMD as the substitute for the very fine aggregate passing
through 0.25 mm sieve performed better than the series without any addition of marble dust
in terms of compressive strength. As a matter of fact marble dust had a filler effect (particularly
important at early ages) and played a noticeable role in the hydration process.
 The filler effect of marble dust on cement hydration is associated with the reduction of the
porosity. It can be stated that usage of marble dust effectively decreases the porosity of the
hardened concrete.

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