Transportation Research Record

Analysis under the microstructural optics of waste foundry sand acting as paving
material
--Manuscript Draft--

Full Title: Analysis under the microstructural optics of waste foundry sand acting as paving
material

Abstract: In this study, a representative sample of Waste Foundry Sand (WFS) from steelmaker
was analyzed using a stereoscope at 10 and 40-fold increases and a SEM at 80 and
2,000-fold increments, obtaining high-definition images and quantitative elemental
composition. Analogously, a sample of manufactured sand (an aggregate used in
asphalt paving at Brazil) was also analyzed for comparison. The petrographic analysis
of WFS morphology revelated a most part of sub-angular grains with high sphericity
formed from innocuous materials, similar the manufactured sand. Besides the
difference in their harmfulness, there were also distinctions in their composition. From
SEM/EDS, WFS presented 51,34% silica, 2,2% iron, 13,4% carbon, 3,9% aluminum
and 0,4% magnesium, whereas the manufactured sand presented 60,42% silica,
14,93% iron, 10,19% aluminum and 3,12% magnesium. The results confirm that the
microstructure of residue will not prejudice the paving generating a reactive
comportment in the asphalt matrix.

Manuscript Classifications: Laboratory Tests; Non-Geologic Aggregate; Particle Characteristics; Sustainability;

Environment; Sustainable Pavements AFB00S; Asphalt; Environmental; Materials;
Asphalt Materials

Manuscript Number:

Article Type: Publication

Order of Authors: Paulo Paiva Oliveira Leite Dyer, Dr

Silvelene Alessandra Silva, PHD

Rodolfo Belasco, Mster

Rodrigo Alves e Silva, Doctor

Luis Miguel Gutierrez Klinsky, PHD

Maryangela Geimba de Lima, PHD

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Manuscript

1 Analysis under the microstructural optics of waste foundry sand acting as paving material
2
3 Dr. Paulo Paiva Oliveira Leite Dyer
4 Department of Airport Infrastructure
5 Aeronautical Technology Institute, São José dos Campos, São Paulo Brazil, 12228-900
6 Email: pauldyer@ita.br
7
8 Dr. Silvelene Alessandra Silva
9 Department of Photonics
10 Advanced Studies Institute, São José dos Campos, São Paulo Brazil, 12228-001
11 Email: lenisoni@uol.com.br
12
13 Ms. Rodolfo Belasco
14 Department of Airport Infrastructure
15 Aeronautical Technology Institute, São José dos Campos, São Paulo Brazil, 12228-900
16 Email: rbelasco@hotmail.com
17
18 Dr. Rodrigo Alves e Silva
19 Department of GeoEngineering Centre at Queens-RMC Civil Engineering
20 Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, K7L 613
21 Email: rodrigoasilva.civil@gmail.com
22
23 Dr. Luis Miguel Gutierrez Klinsky
24 Laboratory of road research
25 Department of Airport Infrastructure
26 CCR Nova Dutra, Santa Isabel, São Paulo Brazil, 07500-000
27 Email: luis.gutierrez@grupoccr.com.br
28
29 Dr. Maryangela Geimba de Lima
30 Department of Airport Infrastructure
31 Aeronautical Technology Institute, São José dos Campos, São Paulo Brazil, 12228-900
32 Email: magdlima@ita.br
33
34
35
36 Word Count: 2,113 words + 3 tables = 2,247 words
37
38
39 Submitted [June 2019]
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 Author, Author, and Author

1 ABSTRACT
2 In this study, a representative sample of Waste Foundry Sand (WFS) from steelmaker was
3 analyzed using a stereoscope at 10 and 40-fold increases and a SEM at 80 and 2,000-fold
4 increments, obtaining high-definition images and quantitative elemental composition.
5 Analogously, a sample of manufactured sand (an aggregate used in asphalt paving at Brazil) was
6 also analyzed for comparison. The petrographic analysis of WFS morphology revelated a most
7 part of sub-angular grains with high sphericity formed from innocuous materials, similar the
8 manufactured sand. Besides the difference in their harmfulness, there were also distinctions in
9 their composition. From SEM/EDS, WFS presented 51,34% silica, 2,2% iron, 13,4% carbon, 3,9%
10 aluminum and 0,4% magnesium, whereas the manufactured sand presented 60,42% silica, 14,93
11 % iron, 10,19% aluminum and 3,12% magnesium. The results confirm that the microstructure of
12 residue will not prejudice the paving generating a reactive comportment in the asphalt matrix.
13
14 Keywords: Waste foundry sand casting, asphalt, SEM, casting.

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 Author, Author, and Author

1 INTRODUCTION
2 The residues of casting inside molds are usually constituted of mineral sand. When
3 discarded, this waste is called Waste Foundry Sand (WFS) and goes to industrial landfills,
4 occupying huge volumes. In paving projects, there is a great demand for mineral aggregates,
5 since they comprise constituent layers of flexible pavements. These are increasingly scarce and
6 costly materials, which foments the necessity of creating alternative less costly materials to
7 replace them. Due to mineralogical similarities between WFS and mineral fine aggregates, it is
8 plausible to employ WFS for reuse purposes in asphalt paving. To that end, it is necessary to
9 know the chemical and morphological aspects of the residue and to verify if it could impair the
10 performance of the asphalt mixture when composing a flexible pavement. Optical stereoscopy
11 and X-ray scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDS) are important tools to know the qualitative
12 details of the morphology and elemental constitution of the materials. Determining the viability
13 of using WFS as an alternative aggregate in asphalt paving not only could engender financial
14 advantages for projects but could also increase the service life of landfills and reduce the
15 extraction of exhaustible mineral resources.
16
17 The generation of WFS and its consequences
18 The steelmaking industries are responsible for the production of metal parts used in
19 casting processes, and these pieces are obtained by pouring the molten metal inside a negative
20 mold consisting of fine mineral sand. Once the metal cools and becomes rigid, the mold is
21 broken and the piece is obtained (Figure 1). Because of this industrial process, the fine mineral
22 sand becomes so contaminated by metal that it can compromise the quality of other metal parts if
23 used again. Consequently, that sand is generally disposed in landfills as an industrial waste and is
24 called Waste Foundry Sand (WFS), classified by Environmental Protection Agency, according to
25 its Guidelines for the storage and collection of residential, commercial, and institutional solid
26 waste 40 CFR 243 of July 01, 2012 (1), as a non-hazardous industrial solid waste. In agreement
27 with this classification this WFS fits as non-hazardous and not inert or inert. The appropriate
28 classification will depend upon the limits of substances that are present in this WFS (1).
29

30
31
32 Figure 1 Illustration of industrial casting process. Based on: (2)
33

34 The WFS is periodically produced in large quantities in World (3). According to annual
35 report from the Modern Casting Magazine, an annual journal of the American Foundry Society
36 (4) an average of 115 million tons of castings were made in worldwide in 2016, generating an
37 average of 0.8 to 1 ton of WFS for each ton of casting (5); something around of 103 million tons
38 of WFS.
39

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 Author, Author, and Author

1 Asphalt pavements
2 Asphalt pavement can be defined as a surface that has received earthmoving services and
3 has the function of offering drivers good conditions of comfort and safety, considering the best
4 cost-benefit within an engineering project (6). In terms of load capacity, they are classified into
5 flexible, rigid and mixed (or semi-rigid), and are dimensioned according to where they will be
6 applied and to the type and intensity of traffic (light or heavy). Flexible pavements are
7 commonly applied in urban and interurban roads. A pavement comprises a set of several layers
8 with decreasing load capacity from top to bottom, and the asphalt is assumed as a layer with
9 finite thickness immersed in a semi-infinite space called a subgrade (7).
10
11 Use of WFS in asphalt concrete
12 In the face of a scenario where there is a high production of residues whose chemical and
13 physical characteristics are similar to those found in fine aggregates used in asphalt paving,
14 together with the need for alternative mineral resources in these projects, an opportunity to reuse
15 WFS as aggregate in asphalt concrete arises.
16 One of the first studies regarding the use of WFS for asphalt concrete was developed in
17 1999 in the United States (8), where a manual was prepared for the management and reuse of
18 WFS, along with recommendations and alternatives for its use in asphalt paving. That stimulated
19 further investigations and many other subsequent works were developed in this area. In Brazil
20 and USA, savings generated in 2002-2004 thanks to the incorporation of WFS in Hot Mix
21 Asphalt mixtures (HMA) were highlighted (5, 9), showing good results in road engineering
22 criteria. Additional specific tests of asphalt concrete with WFS were included according to
23 Siddike et al. (2004) (10) , aiming to show that they present results very close to those required
24 by the standards of the AASHTO (11). Hence, the possibility of reusing WFS for asphalt paving
25 purposes according to pavement standards is validated (12).
26

27 Study of aggregate and WFS microstructures

28 Within the civil construction industry, the regulations established by competent
29 organizations towards road projects are based on very old and purely empirical USA standards,
30 showing results in a macroscopic way and not considering the intrinsic mechanisms of the
31 asphalt concrete/aggregate matrix. Thus, to provide a better understanding of the properties of
32 this material, a physical and chemical study of WFS is necessary, verifying if the residue could
33 affect the quality of this concrete negatively. This analysis is potentially innovative, since
34 chemical investigations on the microstructure of WFS and aggregates for asphalt paving may
35 provide a solid comprehension as to the interactions between the aggregate and the matrix of
36 asphalt concrete. Consequently, similarities between the conventional aggregate and the residue,
37 as well as pathologies that this residue could cause when incorporated into the HMA could be
38 emphasized.
39
40 METHODS
41
42 Materials Used
43
44 Waste foundry sand from steelmakers
45

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 Author, Author, and Author

1 Material from an industrial waste landfill located in the city of São José dos Campos/São
2 Paulo/Brazil, which receives this waste from the steel industry periodically.
3

4 Manufactured sand
5 Material from a quarry located in the city of Jambeiro/São Paulo/Brazil that has a granite
6 deposit.
7

8 Development
9 Homogeneous small portions (3 ± 0.01 g) of each material were taken. In these portions, a
10 double-sided carbon tape was pressed with one of the sticking parts and they were then positioned
11 in the sampler of the scanning electron microscope. The assembly was submitted to SEM/EDS, as
12 shown in Figure 2.
13

14
15

16 Figure 2 Photographs of the samples placed in the SEM/EDS sampler (a) and of the
17 equipment used (b)
18

19 From the previously mentioned portions, smaller portions (about 1 ± 0.01g each) were
20 inserted into a stereoscope. In possession of the images obtained by the SEM and the stereoscope,
21 a petrographic analysis of the grains (13) was carried out by means of the determination of the
22 degree of roundness and the sphericity of the aggregates, performed in qualitative and quantitative
23 ways.
24
25 RESULTS
26 SEM images of the WFS and manufactured sand, obtained at magnifications of 80x and
27 2000x, are shown in Figures 3 and 4.
28

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 Author, Author, and Author

1
2
3 Figure 3 Amplified images of 80x (a) and 2000x (b) of the WFS obtained by SEM
4
5

6
7
8 Figure 4 Amplified images of 80x (a) and 2000x (b) of the manufactured sand obtained by
9 SEM
10
11 In the optical stereoscope, 10 and 40-fold magnified images of the WFS and manufactured
12 sand were obtained, as shown in Figures 5 and 6.

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 Author, Author, and Author

2
3 Figure 5 Extended images of 10 (a) and 40 times (b) of the WFS obtained by the Stereoscope
4
5

6
7 Figure 6 Extended images of 10 (a) and 40 times (b) of the manufactured sand obtained by
8 the Stereoscope
9
10 When obtaining the images, the SEM/EDS equipment also obtained the elemental
11 composition of both WFS and manufactured sand, as depicted in Tables 1 and 2.
12
13 Table 1 Elemental compositions of the WFS and manufactured sand
Material
Element
WFS (Weight%) Manufactured sand (Weight%)
C 13.4 ± 0.4 0.0
N 2.7 ± 0.2 0.0
O 48.8 ± 0.3 42.23 ± 0.35
Fe 2.2 ± 0.1 14.93 ± 0.49
Na 4.1 ± 0.1 1.3 ± 0.09
Mg 0.4 ± 0.0 3.12 ± 0.09
Al 3.9 ± 0.1 10.19 ± 0.16
Si 24 ± 0.2 28.24 ± 0.3
K 0.5 ± 0.0 0.0

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1 Table 2 Molecular compositions of the WFS and manufactured sand

Material
Substances (Weight%)
WFS (Weight%) Manufactured sand (Weight%)
Silica 51.34 60.42
Oxides 25.91 21.08
Organic molecules 13.4 0.0
Metals 11.1 29.54
Trace Elements 2.7 0.0
2

3 When performing the petrographic analysis of the materials. in other words. the
4 classification according to their morphology. the results contemplated in the Table 3 were
5 obtained.
6

7 Table 3 WFS and manufactured sand morphoscopic analysis

Material
Petrographic classification (13)
WFS Manufactured sand
Petrographic analysis Inoculant grains Potentially deleterious grains
Degree of predominant sphericity High High
Prevailing rounding degree Sub angled Sub arrow
Predominant surface Polished Frosted
Potential alkali aggregate reactions Inert Potentially reactive
Recommendations No recommendations Review: AAR-1 RILEM (14)
8
9 CONCLUSIONS
10 When comparing the microstructures of manufactured sand, which is a conventional
11 aggregate in asphalt paving, and WFS, a residue of the steel industries, it is observed that despite
12 small differences in their chemical compositions, the residue does not present any substance that
13 could possibly generate some pathology to the asphalt mixture. Petrographically, the two materials
14 forms are very similar. Although more research in this area is necessary, the results presented
15 herein confirm the feasibility of using WFS as an aggregate in asphalt concrete
16
17 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
18 Thanks to: the road research center of the Nova Dutra road control consortium; to the civil
19 engineering laboratory of the Technological Institute of Aeronautics; to the photonic laboratory of
20 the Institute of Advanced Studies, all based in the State of São Paulo / Brazil by laboratory tests.
21 To the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - CAPES for the financing
22 of the research.
23
24 AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
25 The authors confirm the contribution to the article as follows: study concept and design: P. P. O.
26 L. Dyer; data collection: R. Belasco; analysis and interpretation of results: S.A. Silva;
27 preparation of the manuscript draft: R. A. e Silva. L.M.K. Klinsky. M. G. de Lima. All authors
28 reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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