Use of stone powder in concrete and mortar as an alternative of sand

Abstract

Stone powder produced from stone crushing zones appears as a problem for effective disposal. Sand is a common fine aggregate used in construction work as a fine aggregate. In this study, the main concern is to find an alternative of sand. Substitution of normal sand by stone powder will serve both solid waste minimization and waste recovery. The study focuses to determine the relative performance of concrete by using powder sand. From laboratory experiments, it was revealed that concrete made of stone powder and stone chip gained about 15% higher strength than that of the concrete made of normal sand and brick chip. Concrete of stone powder and brick chip gained about 10% higher strength than that of the concrete normal sand and stone chip concrete. The highest compressive strength of mortar found from stone powder which is 33.02 Mpa, shows that better mortar can be prepared by the stone powder. The compressive strength of concrete from stone powder shows 14.76% higher value than that of the concrete made of normal sand. On the other hand, concrete from brick chip and stone powder produce higher compressive value from that of brick chip and normal sand concrete.

Key words: Stone powder, concrete, mortar, concrete, compressive strength.