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Characteristics of Limestone Manufactured Sand

Conference Paper · August 2013

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 Characteristics of limestone manufactured sand

YANG Zhenguo, SHEN Weiguo SHEN Weiguo LAN Qing, CAO Lianghong,
School of Materials Science and State Key Laboratory of Silicate LU Zili, DONG Rui
Engineering Materials for Architectures Guangdong Provincial Changda
Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan University of Technology Highway Engineering Co.,Ltd
Wuhan, China Wuhan, China Guangdong, China
yangzgml@whut.edu.cn shenwg@whut.edu.cn

Abstract-Manufactured sand is widely used today, but the
research activities about its characteristics are still not deepgoing.
To systematically investigate its characteristics, we used image
analysis system, 3D confocal scanning laser microscope and X-
ray diffractmeter to test the grain gradation, particle shape,
surface morphology and powder features of limestone
manufactured sand and natural river sand. The results show:
The manufactured sand has a gradation defect, and it has a
bigger roundness factor and a smaller fullness ratio. Its lineal
roughness and surface roughness are both much higher than the
natural sand’s. Most of its stone powder is block structure and
has little angularity. The main mineral of limestone
manufactured sand stone powder is calcite, and it also contains a
little dolomite and α-quartz.
Keywords-manufactured sand; powder; characteristic
basic characteristics of natural sand were tested too as a
comparison.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. Materials
The fine aggregates used in the test were limestone
manufactured sand from Guoluan quarry and river sand from
Heishui river sandpit, the physical and mechanical properties
of fine aggregate were tested according to “Test Methods of
Aggregate for Highway Engineering”(JTG E42-2005), the
results are shown in Table I, gradation curve is presented in
Fig. 1.
TABLE I. MAIN PERFORMANCE INDEX OF FINE AGGREGATE

Density(g/cm3) Loose Crush

I. INTRODUCTION Fineness
Class voidage value
Apparent Loose Packing modulus
The fine aggregate in concrete usually refers to natural (%) (%)
sand and manufactured sand whose particle size is less than M
2.59 1.42 1.53 45.4 3.18 23.3
4.75mm. The particle characters of fine aggregate include sand
gradation, shape, texture, roughness, mineral composition of R
2.63 1.50 1.62 43.0 2.50 14.0
sand
the powder and powder or light substance content etc, and
these characters have a significant influence on the workability,
strength and durability of concrete [1]. Now, manufactured
sand has become the focus of research as resources instead of
natural sand. And compared with natural sand, manufactured
sand has some unique properties in grain gradation, particle
shape, surface morphology, mineral composition, particularly
in stone powder content [2]. To evaluate aggregate’s
properties like particle shape and gradation etc, many
researchers had formulated some macro-parameters of the
indexes like packing density, voidage and roughness etc [3].
However, these parameters were formulated mostly according
to the natural sand, all of them were needed to study whether
they can reflect the unique properties of manufactured sand
and guide the production of manufactured sand concrete.
Meanwhile, due to the different testing instruments and the
limit of testing method, it was still not perfect to use the
current standard to characterize the basic characteristic Figure 1. Gradation curve of manufactured sand and river sand
indexes of manufactured sand and stone powder. The object of
this study was to characterize the basic characteristics of
manufactured sand from macro and micro perspective, and the
B. Methods
1) Image analysis system
The test adopted DS-5M image analysis system, and used
IPP6.0 image processing software to process the digital
images of samples. The diameter, roundness and fullness ratio
of fine aggregate had been taken as parameters.
2) Microscopy experimental equipment
The test adopted Olympus LEXT OLS4000 3D confocal
scanning laser microscope to do microscopic analysis of fine
aggregate and powder.
3) Phases qualitative analysis equipment
The test adopted D/MAX-RB X-ray diffractometer to do
phases qualitative analysis of powder.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Manufactured sand grain gradation features
The fineness degree of sand for building which is used
widely today always takes the fineness modulus as evaluation
standard. But the manufactured sand is made by mechanical
crushing and sieving, so with the difference of productive
process the gradation of sand is different as well. The fineness
modulus of manufactured sand cannot fully reflect the grain
gradation. To compare and analyze the grain gradation
features of manufactured sand and river sand intuitively, the
sieve residue in each sieve pore of 500g river sand or 500g
manufactured sand were tested, the compared results can been
seen in Fig. 2.
Figure 2. Visual gradation diagram of river sand and manufactured sand
It can be seen intuitively from Fig. 2, the river sand’s
gradation is better, the distribution of each particle size is
uniform, and the whole gradation is good; while the
manufactured sand’s gradation varies considerably, the
particles in 0.30-0.60mm and 0.15-0.30mm gradation are
serious shortage, while the particles in 1.18-4.75mm and
below 0.075mm are severely exceeded. The results show that
the gradation of manufactured sand is typical “more on both
sides and less in center” grading distribution, and compared
with the river sand, the fineness modulus of manufactured
sand may cannot reflect the particles distribution directly, the
quality of manufactured sand cannot be controlled by
controlling the fineness modulus.
B. Manufactured sand shape features
The shape of fine aggregate is irregular due to the features
of itself and different processing methods. It is difficult to
define and measure its morphology feature. Currently, the
main method to describe particle’s morphology feature is
Digital Image Processing (DIP) technology [4]. This part
adopted DS-5M image analysis system, and used IPP6.0
image processing software to process the digital images of the
samples. We can get diameter, roundness and fullness ratio of
fine aggregate, thus the morphology features of the particle
can be characterized according to roundness factor. The
roundness function formula of IPP 6.0 image processing
software used in this test can be indicated as:
(l ) 2
r (1)
4  s
Where, r is roundness, l is the perimeter of particle, s is the
area of particle.
Fullness ratio is a measure of particle salient; it can be
figured out from 2d projection, the expression is shown as (2),
particle’s projected area and salient area schematic can be seen
in Fig. 3.
Sp
 F   (2)
Ss
Where, F is fullness ratio, Sp is the projected area of particle,
Ss is the salient area of particle.
Figure 3. Particle’s projected area and salient area schematic diagram
The 2.36-4.75mm size fraction of limestone manufactured
sand and natural river sand were selected as measuring object.
The basic research method and process of sand morphology
analysis can be seen in Fig. 4. The digital images and
morphology analysis results of the sands are shown in Fig. 5
and Fig. 6.
Figure 4. Basic research method and process of sand morphology analysis
(a) Digital image (b) Particle diameter measured value
 relatively smooth, while the angularity of manufactured sand’s
surface is obvious.

(c)Particle roundness measured value (d) Roundness distribution

Figure 5. Measurement and calculation of manufactured sand shape

parameter

Figure 7. River sand particle surface micro-morphology 3d effect graph

(a) Digital image (b) Particle diameter measured value

Figure 8. Manufactured sand particle surface micro-morphology 3d effect

(c)Particle roundness measured value (d) Roundness distribution graph

Figure 6. Measurement and calculation of river sand shape parameter In addition, the lineal roughness and surface roughness of
natural river sand and limestone manufactured sand were
For the roundness function of IPP6.0 image processing tested by confocal scanning laser microscope. The basis
software, the roundness factor of circle is 1.00, the roundness parameter Ra is used to evaluate the rough state of particle’s
factor of non-circular particles are all higher than 1.00. From surface; it is defined as arithmetic mean value of the contour
the contrast test in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, we can find the minimum offset’s absolute value within the sampling length L. The
of limestone manufactured sand’s roundness is about 1.27, the bigger the difference between concave segment and convex
maximum is 2.38, the average roundness factor is 1.59; while segment, the larger the arithmetic mean value. The concrete
the minimum of natural river sand’s roundness is about 1.16, expression sees (3).
the maximum is 1.42, the average roundness factor is 1.29.
Meanwhile, by calculating the diameters’ measured values of 1 L
L 0
limestone manufactured sand and natural river sand particles, Ra  y( x) dx (3)
we find that the fullness ratio of limestone manufactured sand
is 0.913, while natural river sand’s is 0.938. The results show Where, L is the evaluation length of sample, y is the distance
that after many years of natural erosion, the river sand’s between contour point and datum line in the measurement
surface is very smooth, and its angularity is not obvious. It has direction.
a smaller roundness factor and a larger fullness ratio and its
roundness factor is close to circle; while the manufactured
sand is processed by machines, so its elongated and flaky
particles are a little more, its angularity is very obvious. Its
roundness is larger and the fullness ratio is relatively smaller.
C. Manufactured sand surface morphology features
This test used Olympus LEXT OLS4000 3D confocal
scanning laser microscope to test micro-morphology of Figure 9. Schematic diagram of Ra
limestone manufactured sand and natural river sand. The 3d
surface micro–morphology of natural river sand is shown in
Fig. 7, and the manufactured sand’s can be seen in Fig. 8. It
can be obviously seen that the surface of river sand particle is
TABLE II. ROUGHNESS OF NATURAL SAND AND MANUFACTURED SAND gradation of manufactured sand; while the winnowing stone
Setup information Analysis parameters powder’s particles which are higher than 0.075mm are about
Evaluation R sand 20-30%. The specific surface area of winnowing stone powder
641m 1.324
length Lineal Ral is about 310-360 m2/kg, it is a little finger compared with the
roughness M sand washing stone powder and close to cement. While the surface
Objective 20 3.504
Ral area of clay is very high, it has lots of fine particles. The
R sand
Evaluation area 643m642m
Ras
1.353 micro-morphology of mud powder and stone powder had been
Surface
roughness M sand compared by using Olympus OLS4000 3D confocal scanning
Objective 20 3.382 laser microscope, and the magnification of microscope was
Ras
2000. The test results are shown in Fig. 12 and Fig. 13.

(a) River sand (b) Manufactured sand

Figure 10. 3d effect graph of sand particle’s lineal roughness

Figure 12. Micro-morphology of mud powder particle (×2000)

(a) River sand (b) Manufactured sand

Figure 11. 3d effect graph of sand particle’s surface roughness

The schematic diagram of method to test sample’s

roughness is shown in Fig. 9, the results can be seen in Table II,
the 3d effect graphs of the test are shown in Fig. 10, and Fig.
11. We can found that the lineal roughness and surface
roughness of manufactured sand were all higher than natural
river sand’s.
Figure 13. Micro-morphology of stone powder particle (×2000)

D. Manufactured sand stone powder features
The mud powder in natural sand and the stone powder in
manufactured sand both have a significant influence on the
workability of fresh concrete and the mechanical properties or
durability of hardened concrete [5-9]. However, the properties
of manufactured sand stone powder and its role in concrete
cannot equal to the mud powder’s in natural river sand.
1) Stone powder surface morphology features
According to the discharge method of powder, the stone
powder can divide into washing stone powder and winnowing
stone powder. The washing stone powder’s particles which are
higher than 0.075mm are more than half, and the particles in
0.075mm-0.15mm are too many, these have destroyed the
It can been seen from Fig.12 and Fig. 13, the angularity of
mud powder is not obvious, its contour is a little round and
most of the powder is cohesive shape; while most of the stone
powder is block structure and has little angularity, its particle
morphology is close to cement or slag.
2) Manufactured sand stone powder mineral compositions
The manufactured sand is an artificial material which
comes from the parent rock’s multilevel crushing, so its
mineral compositions mainly depend on the composition of
parent rock. The mineral compositions of manufactured sand
stone powder were tested by XRD (see Fig. 14), and in order
to compare with the stone powder, the river sand mud powder
was tested as well (see Fig. 15).

Figure 14. XRD of stone powder
Figure 15. XRD of mud powder
We can see from Fig.14 and Fig. 15, the main mineral in
manufactured sand stone powder is calcite, it also contains a
little dolomite and α-quartz; while the main mineral in river
sand mud powder is α-quartz, the following is calcite, potash
feldspar and albite.
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IV. CONCLUSION
Compared with the natural sand, the manufactured sand
has a “more on both side and less in center” gradation defect.
Its particle roundness factor is larger, and its fullness ratio is
smaller. The angularity of manufactured sand’s surface is
obvious, the lineal roughness and surface roughness of
manufactured sand are all higher than natural sand’s.
Meanwhile, compared with the mud powder in natural sand,
most of the manufactured sand stone powder is block structure
and has little angularity; its particle morphology is close to
cement or slag. The main mineral of the limestone
manufactured sand stone powder is calcite, and it also contains
a little dolomite and α-quartz.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by Research of the material
design and engineering application for manufactured sand
concrete (2011-02-057) and Research of the technical
guidelines for applications of highway engineering
manufactured sand concrete in Guangdong province (2012-03-
006).
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