Topic 2: concrete

Subtopic:

• Aggregates
 LEARNING OUTCOME
 At the end of this lecture, students should be able to
understand and explain;

i. Types & classification of aggregates

ii. Properties & characteristics of aggregates
iii. Grading of aggregates
iv. Bulk Density
v. Durability of aggregates
vi. Testing of aggregates
vii. Deleterious substances in aggregate
viii. Recycled aggregate
 WHAT IS
AGGREGATES??????
 DEFINITIONS
 Aggregates may be defined as the solid
materials contained in concrete which play no
part in the chemical reactions that cause the
concrete set.
 Aggregates include gravel, crushed stone, sand
etc.
 Form 75% of total volume of concrete,
selection of suitable material is important,
aggregate should contain no constituent
material (might adversely affect the hardening
of cement/durability of hardened mass).
The Function of Aggregates:
As a mass of particles which are suitable for
resisting action of applied load, abrasion & the
action of weather.
Reduce the volume changes resulting from
setting & hardening the concrete.
PROCESSING AGGREGATES

• CRUSHING is
smashing or breaking
the rock into different
sized pieces for
different uses. Some
sand and gravel does
not require crushing.
 PROCESSING AGGREGATES (cont)

• SCREENING is sorting the

aggregate by size. The screens
look like window screens with
openings that vary in size.
• WASHING is removing clay,
dirt and smaller-sized particles
from the aggregate.
 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

AGGREGATE

NORMAL DENSITY LIGHT WEIGHT HIGH DENSITY

AGGREGATE AGGREGATE AGGREGATE

•COARSE AGGREGATE
•LOW DENSITY
•FINE AGGREGATE •HIGH WATER ABSORPTION •MAGNETITE
•ALL-IN AGGREGATE •LOWER TENSILE STRENGTH •BARYTES
•LOWER MODULUS ELASTICITY
•HIGHER CREEP & SHRINKAGE
 CLASSIFICATION OF AGGREGATE
 Natural
Occurrence
 Artificial
 High density
 Normal density Density
 Light weight
 Crushed
Treatment
 Uncrushed
 Fine Size
 Coarse
 Wet aggregate
 Saturated & surface dry
Moisture content
 Bone-dry
 Air dry
 Elongated
Shape & texture
 Rough
1) Normal Aggregates

Bulk density between 1450 – 1750 kg/m3.

MS 29 : 1995 classified aggregate
according to size:
a) Course aggregates (> 5 mm)
b) Fine aggregates (< 5 mm)
c) All in aggregates
Coarse Aggregate Fine Aggregate
a) Coarse Aggregates
 Course aggregates is defined as containing a high
proportion of particles retained by a 5 mm (0.197
in.) sieve.

 Divided into 3;
i. Uncrushed gravel - natural disintegration rock.
ii. Crushed gravel - crushing hard stone & gravel
respectively
iii. Partially crushed gravel - blending crushed
and uncrushed gravel.
b) Fine Aggregates
 Fine aggregates is defined as containing a
high proportion of particles passing a 5 mm
0.197 in) sieve.
 Sand;
i. Natural sand - natural disintegration of
rock.
ii. Crushed stone sand or crushed gravel sand-
crushing hard stone or natural gravel
respectively.
c) All-in-Aggregates
These are materials composed of a
mixture of coarse & fine aggregate.
Normally not graded & used in
unimportant works as they are taken from
the pit or river bed.
Referred as pit-run aggregate.
 2)LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATES

Any aggregate with particle density

<2000kg/m3 @ dry loose bulk density
<1200kg/m3.

Are generally manufactured (for example

expanded clay or expanded shale) but can be
natural rock (for example pumice).
 2)LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATES (CONT)
 It is low density.
 Has high water absorption.
 require wetting before mixing in the mixer.
 produce coarse surface texture
 reduced workability, lower tensile strength &
lower modulus of elasticity.
 high creep and shrinkage ~ tendency to
segregate.
 2)LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATES (CONT)
May be grouped into:-

a) Naturally occurring materials

- pumice, foamed lava, volcanic tuff, porous limestone
b) Naturally occurring materials which require
further processing
expanded clay, shale and slate & other expanded
minerals such as perlite and vermiculite
c) Materials which occur as industrial by product
sintered pulverised fuel ash (fly ash), sintered shale and
colliery waste, foamed or expanded blast furnace slag
 3) HIGH DENSITY OF AGGREGATES
High specific gravity (2.8 – 2.9) and unit
weight (2800 kg/m3 – 2900 kg/m3).
 produce dense and crack free concrete.
 difficult to have adequate workability without
segregation due to not suitably graded.
Compressive strength of these concretes is of
the order of 20-21 N/mm2
 grading OF AGGREGATES
The particle size distribution of aggregates is
called grading.
The grading determine the paste requirement
for a workable concrete since the amount of
void requires needs to be filled by the same
amount of cement paste in a concrete mixture.
To obtain a grading curve for aggregate, sieve
analysis has to be conducted.
Well Graded Aggregate
• Dense and well graded aggregates are
desirable for making concrete, as the space
between larger particles is effectively filled by
smaller particles to produce a well-packed
structure.
• A well graded soil is a soil that contains
particles of a wide range of sizes and has a
good representation of all sizes from the No. 4
to No. 200 sieves.
• A well graded gravel is classified as GW while a
well graded sand
Gap Graded Aggregate
• Gap grading is a kind of grading which lacks one or
more intermediate size.
• Gap graded aggregates can make good concrete when
the required workability is relatively low.
• Advantages of gap grading are more economical
concrete, use of less cement and lower w/c ratios.
• When they are used in high workability mixes,
segregation may become a problem. The resulting
concrete is very stiff and has low workability.
• An extreme case is no-fines concrete. This concrete is
difficult to handle and compact; developing low
strength and high permeability.
A sieve analysis test was performed on a sample
fine aggregate and produced the following
results:
Calculate percentage passing
Sieve 4.75 2.36 2.00 1.18 0.60 0.30 0.15 0.075 pan
(mm)
Amount 0 33.2 56.9 83.1 151.4 40.4 72.0 58.3 15.6
retained
(g)
 Bulk density of AGGREGATES
 Bulk density of aggregates is the mass of
aggregates required to fill the container of a unit
volume after aggregates are batched based on
volume.
 It depends on the packing of aggregate i.e. Either
loosely packed aggregates or well dense
compacted aggregates.
 If the specific gravity of material is known, then it
depends on the shape and size of particles. It is
because, if all the particles are of same size than
packing can be done up to a very limited extent.
• If the addition of smaller particles is possible
within the voids of larger particles than these
smaller particles enhance the bulk density of
the packed material.
• Shape of the particles also influence very
widely, because closeness particles depends
on the shape of aggregates.
 PROPERTIES OF AGGREGATE
 Aggregate must be clean, hard, strong,
properly shaped and well graded.
 It must posses chemical stability, abrasion
resistance, resistance to freezing and
thawing, compressive strength.
 The aggregate will not react chemically
with cement.
 Abrasion resistance is essential when
aggregate is used in concrete subject to
abrasion e.g. floors and pavement.
 PROPERTIES OF AGGREGATE

STRENGTH
WATER HARDNESS
ABSORPTION
PROPERTIES OF
AGGREGATE

POROSITY TOUGHNESS

DURABILITY
i. Strength
 Normally strength of concrete doesn’t exceed
80 N/mm2 (20 – 50 N/mm2 ).
 Strength of rock aggregate (70 – 350 N/mm2)
- good average value is 200 N/mm2
 Test aggregate crushing value
aggregate impact value
ten percent fines value
ii. Hardness
 Ability to withstand wear/ load/ applied pressure
 Depend on the type of parent rock
 Test
- Abrasion test (BS812:Part 113:1990)
- Abrasion value should have:
not more 30% - aggregate used for
wearing surfaces
not more 50% - aggregate used for non
wearing surfaces
iii. Toughness
 Resistance of aggregate to failure by
impact.
 Test :
- Aggregate Impact Test
(MS 30: Part 10 : 1995)
- Value :
not exceed 45% - non wearing
surfaces
not exceed 30% - wearing surfaces
iv. Soundness/Durability
 Ability of aggregates to withstand weathering.
 Aggregates must be sound & durable,
particularly if the structure subjected to severe
climatic conditions.
 Effect the magnitude of creep & shrinkage.
 Compressibility reduce distress in concrete.
 Aggregate of moderate / low strength –
vulnerable in preversing durability of concrete.
v. Porosity
 Various sizes, small / big – can be seen with eyes or
microscope.
 Aggregate will absorb water when dry & release
when it wet, depend on size & volume of
aggregate.
 Porosity of aggregate contribute to overall porosity
of concrete.
 Porosity of natural aggregate can be estimated:
Porosity = 100wGs %
(w + 100)
where w - water absorption (%)
Gs – specific gravity
vi. Water absorption

 The weight of water absorbed by an oven dry

aggregate in reaching the saturated &
surface dry condition.
 Determined by measure the increase in
weight of oven dry sample immersed in
water for 24 hours and weighed at saturated
and surface dry condition.
vii) Deformation
Related to its modulus of elasticity.
Higher modulus of elasticity, smaller
deformation under load.
Most natural aggregates has higher modulus
 PARTICLE SHAPE AND SURFACE
TEXTURE OF AGGREGATE
Influence the properties of concrete, mobility
of fresh concrete & bond between aggregate
and mortar paste.
Shape & surface texture of fine aggregate
govern its void content, affect water content in
the mix.
Aggregate particles having sharp edges or
rough surface (crushed stone) used more water
than smooth or rounded aggregate.
Particle Shape of Aggregates:
 Rounded aggregate, reduce water content by 5-10%
and sand content by 3-5%

 Due to interlocking between aggregate particles and

stronger aggregate-mortar bond, a crushed aggregate
concrete may have 10-20% higher compressive
strength than smooth @ rounded aggregate concrete.

 Elongated & flaky particles

i. have high ratio of surface area to volume will reduce
workability
ii. tends to be oriented in one plane with water & air
voids underneath
 ANGULAR

ROUNDED

IRREGULAR
FLAKY

FLAKY AND ELONGATED

Surface Texture of Aggregates:
 Is a measure of smoothness or roughness of
aggregate.
 The strength of the bond (development of
mechanical anchorage) between agg and cement
paste –depend on surface roughness & surface
porosity of the agg.
 Aggregate with rough and pores texture increase
the agg-cement bond by 1.75 times which may
increase in compressive & flexural strength up to
20% than using smooth surface aggregate. But
rough texture more difficult to compact.
Aggregate with polished surface do not
produce strong concrete compare to those
with rough surface.
More angular the aggregate, more surface
area produced, greater the bonding.
 Generally, natural gravel have a smooth
texture, while crushed gravel have a rough
texture.
 TESTING OF AGGREGATES
There are a number of test for aggregates and the
test conducted based on physical and mechanical
properties.
Test of aggregates :
i. Sieve analysis
ii. Toughness, hardness and abrasion resistance.
iii. Soundness
iv. Absorption
v. Specific gravity
 a) Sieve Analysis
To determine the particles size distribution and
fineness modulus of aggregates. Divided into 2
– coarse and fine aggregates.
Common equipment use is sieves and
mechanical shaker.
Proper grading produces dense concrete &
need less quantity of fine agg & cement paste.
It also produce less segregation.
a) Sieve Analysis(cont)
The size of sieve – descending order
starting from 75 – 6.3mm
For fine aggregates using the same method
but size of sieves is smaller. Starting from
4.75 to 0.074mm.
Grading of aggregate obtained using sieve
analysis test in order to get grading within
the limits.
Sieving for Aggregates
b) Toughness, Hardness & Abrasion
Resistance
To determine the resistance of aggregates to
abrasion and impact.
Important to ensure the quality of aggregates
sample during mixing in concrete.
Equipment – Los Angeles abrasion machine.
c) Soundness

To determine the resistance to

integration under weathering
including heating and cooling in term
of changing of volume.
 The soundness test (ASTM C88)
d) Absorption
Determined by measure the increase
in weight of oven dry sample
immersed in water for 24 hours and
weighed at saturated and surface dry
condition.
e) Specific Gravity
The relative density of a substance is
defined as the ratio of its mass
density to the mass density of water
taken at atmospheric pressure at a
temperature of 4°C.
 Deleterious substances in
aggregate
Deleterious substances present in aggregates
that influence concrete properties.
The substances that are harmful to concrete
performance are:
a. Clay lumps and other friable particles
b. Alkali-Aggregate Reaction (AAR)
c. Lignite and coal
d. Salts
e. Lightweight chert
a. Clay lumps and other friable particles

 Clay present on the surface of the aggregate particles in the coating

form interfere with the bond between aggregate and the cement
paste.
 Adversely affecting the strength and durability of concrete.
 It is necessary to control the amount of clay, silt and fine dust in
aggregate
 The impacts on concrete are:
i. Upon breaking while mixing increase water requirements
ii. Impair wear resistance
iii. Reduce durability
iv. May result popouts
b) Alkali- Aggregate Reactions
 Reaction between alkali from cement and silica
or carbonate from aggregate is called “alkali-
aggregate reaction”
 The most common reaction is that between the
active silica constituents of the aggregate and
that alkalis in cement, called as “alkali-silica
reaction”
 Another type of the alkali-aggregate reaction is
that between dolomitic limestone aggregates,
containing carbonate, and alkalis in cement,
called as “alkali-carbonate reaction”
 Both types of the reactions cause deterioration
of concrete, mainly cracking.
c. Salts
 Sand from seashore or dredged from the sea or a river
estuary, as well as desert sand contains salt
 Coarse aggregate dredged from sea also contains salt
 Salts coming through aggregates cause reinforcement
corrosion and also absorb moisture from the air and
cause efflorescence

d. Lightweight chert:
Lightweight means having specific gravity of less than
2.40.
They may result
1. reduced durability
2. popouts
 Recycled aggregate
 Concrete recycling gains importance because it
protects natural resources and eliminates the
need for disposal.
 It is produced by crushing concrete, and
sometimes asphalt, to reclaim the aggregate.
Recycled aggregate can be used for many
purposes. The primary market is road base.
 Recycling of concrete is a relatively simple
process. It involves breaking, removing, and
crushing existing concrete into a material with a
specified size and quality.
Recycled Aggregate Characteristics
 The crushing characteristics of hardened concrete are
similar to those of natural rock and are not significantly
affected by the grade or quality of the original
concrete.
 Recycled concrete aggregates produced from all but
the poorest quality original concrete can be expected
to pass the same tests required of conventional
aggregates.
Recycled concrete aggregates contain not only the
original aggregates, but also hydrated cement paste.

 This paste reduces the specific gravity and increases

the porosity compared to similar virgin aggregates.
Higher porosity of RCA leads to a higher absorption.
What is RCA Used For?
• Commonly used as a base layer for
roads and highways.
• Can also be used for home landscape
and designs as the base layer for patios
and walkways. Its properties have
shown to stabilize soft and wet soils.
Benefits of Recycled Aggregate:
1. Reduces the use of landfill space and it also
cuts down on the use of raw materials.
2. Another huge benefit of RCA is that it has
excellent bearing strength, which provides an
ideal foundation for asphalt.
3. Can save money for local governments and
other purchasers.
4. Create additional business opportunities.
5. Save energy when recycling is done on site.
6. Conserve diminishing resources of urban
aggregates.
(Q&A)