Strength and durability studies of concrete containing waste foundry sand

Abstract

Due to ever increasing quantities of waste materials and industrial by-products, solid waste management is the prime concern in the world. Scarcity of land-filling space and because of its ever increasing cost, recycling and utilization of industrial by-products and waste materials has become an attractive proposition to disposal. There are several types of industrial by-products and waste materials. The utilization of such materials in concrete not only makes it economical, but also helps in reducing disposal concerns. One such industrial by-product is Waste Foundry Sand (SFS). WFS is major byproduct of metal casting industry and successfully used as a land filling material for many years. But use of waste foundry sand (WFS) for land filling is becoming a problem due to rapid increase in disposal cost. In an effort to use the WFS in construction materials, research has being carried out for its possible utilization in making concrete as partial replacement of fine aggregate. In India, approximately 1.71 million tons of waste foundry sand and in Punjab region, approximately 0.17 million tons of waste foundry is produced yearly. This experimental investigation was performed to evaluate the strength and durability properties of M20 (30 MPa) and M30 (40 MPa) grades of concrete mixes, in which natural sand was partial replaced with waste foundry sand (WFS). Natural sand was replaced with five percentage (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) of WFS by weight. A total of ten concrete mix proportions M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4 and M-5 for M20 grade of concrete and M-6, M-7, M-8, M-9 and M-10 for M30 grade of concrete with and without WFS were developed. Compression test, splitting tensile strength test and modulus of elasticity were carried out to evaluate the strength properties of concrete at the age of 7, 28, 91 and 365 days. In non destructive testing, rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity test were conducted at the age of 28, 91 and 365 days.