Sand

It is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely

divided rock and mineral particles.
The most common constituent of sand is silica in the form of
quartz and because of its chemical inertness and considerable
hardness,it is the most common mineral resistant to
weathering.
The second most common type of soil is calcium carbonate.
The size of sand particles ranges from 0.0625 mm to 2 mm
and individual sand particle in this range is called sand grain
which comes between gravel and silt.
Natural and Manufactured sand
Natural or river sand are weathered and worn out particles of
rocks.
Now a days good sand is not readily available and resources
are also exhausting very rapidly.
The artificial sand produced by proper machines must be of
proper gradation which results to fewer voids and require less
cement quantity.
Natural river sand takes millions of years to form thats why
use of manufactured sand becomes inevitable.
Pune - Mumbai expressway was completely built using
artificial/manufactured sand.
Issues with natural sand
The river sand, which is available today, is deficient in many
aspects. It does content very high silt fine particles.
Presence of other impurities such as coal, bones, shells, mica
and silt etc makes it inferior for the use in cement concrete.
The decay of these materials shortens the life of concrete.
General requirements of manufactured
soil :
Sand particles should have higher crushing strength.
The surface texture should be smooth.
The edges of the particles should be grounded.
The ratio of fines below 600 microns in sand should not be
less than 30%.
There should not be any organic impurities.
Silt in sand should not be more than 2%, for crushed sand.
The permissible limit of fines below 75 microns shall not
exceed 15%.
Sand manufactured by VSI crusher/Rotopactor is cubical and
angular in shape.
Sand made by other types of machines is flaky, which is
troublesome in working.
Manufactured sand from jaw crusher, cone crusher, roll
crusher often contain higher percentage of dust and have
flaky particle.
Substituents for sand
Copper slag
A scientist in his findings published in the internationally
referred journals recommends that 50 per cent copper slag
can be used as replacement of sand in order to obtain
concrete with good strength and durability requirements.
Granulated blast furnace slag
GBFS sand can be used as an alternative to natural sand from
the point of view of strength. Use of GBFS up to 75 per cent
can be recommended.
Bottom ash
International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering
& Technology in December 2010, says that 30 per cent
replacement of natural sand with washed bottom ash by
weight has an optimum usage in concrete in order to get a
favorable strength.
Quarry dust
International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring
Engineering in May 2013 says that the ideal percentage of the
replacement of sand with the quarry dust is 55 per cent to 75
per cent in case of compressive strength.
Foundry sand
International studies say that up to 30 per cent foundry sand
can be utilized for economical and sustainable development
of concrete.
Construction and demolition waste
Recycled sand and aggregate from C&D waste is said to have
10-15 per cent lesser strength then normal concrete and can
be safely used in non-structural applications like flooring and
filling.