Strength, abrasion and permeability studies on cement concrete containing quartz sandstone coarse aggregates

Sandstones being a sedimentary type of rock are composed of sand-sized mineral grains, rock fragments and pieces of fossils which are held together by mineral cement. They differ from other igneous rocks in possessing a framework of grains that touches each other but not in continuous contact. Quartz being a mineral which is highly resistant to both physical and chemical weathering are also found in sandstones. Being found in sandstones, they can be used as partial replacement of aggregate in cement concrete without a substantial decrease in strength properties. In countries like India, sandstone waste generation is very high and it is estimated that Rajasthan alone produces 900 million tonnes of sandstone waste thus leading to a large dumping of these materials without any essential utilisation. To overcome this massive dumping of sandstone wastes and to lessen the use of natural aggregates, a study was carried to find out the effective use of these sandstone wastes in concrete. M30 grade of concrete was designed as per IS 10262: 2010, with water cement ratio of 0.4. However to find the scattering of strength plots, water cement ratios of 0.35 and 0.45 were also adopted for the study. Control mix consists of 0% quartz sandstone and substitution of coarse aggregates was done for 0-100%, in the multiples of 20%. Tests were done to determine the compressive strength, flexural strength, abrasion resistance, permeability and sorptivity in concrete samples. It was observed that the quartz sandstones might be utilised as a partial replacement of coarse aggregates up to 40% without considerable decrease in its preferred strength.