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Properties of concrete containing waste foundry sand for partial replacement of

fine aggregate in concrete

Article  in  Indian Journal of Engineering and Materials Sciences · April 2017

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Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences
Vol. 24, April 2017, pp. 162-166

Properties of concrete containing waste foundry sand for partial

replacement of fine aggregate in concrete
M Nithyaa*, A K Priyaa, R Muthukumaranb & G K Arunviveka
a
Department of Civil Engineering, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore 641 407, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University Regional Campus, Coimbatore 641 046, India

Received 8 October 2015; accepted 22 February 2017

India is modernizing its infrastructure at a fast pace and concrete is an essential requirement of infrastructural
development1. The main constituents of concrete are cement, sand (fine aggregate), gravel (coarse aggregate) and water. The
high consumption of natural resources like sand and gravel affects the sustainable development. The study aims to determine
the maximum percentage of waste foundry sand (WFS) for partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete for different ratios
(5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35% and 40%) by conducting strength tests on hardened concrete such as compressive
strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength. From the durability point of view, tests such as acid resistance and
alkalinity measurement are conducted. The strength and durability properties of concrete containing WFS indicate that there
is a significant increase in mechanical strength for 35% sand replacement. The basic principle that the industrial waste by-
products can be successfully used as building materials, thereby minimizing or eliminating the environmental degradation by
way of hiding the same within a building structure has been test verified with WFS and has promising replacements for the
conventional fine aggregate in the concrete.

Keywords: Concrete, Fine aggregate, Waste foundry sand, Sustainable development

Concrete is the second most consumed material after
water, with nearly three tons used annually for each
person on the planet reference. India consumes an
approximate quantity of 450 million cubic meter of
concrete per annum, which nearly transforms to 1 ton
per Indian2. Rapid development in the construction
industry has increased the need for the raw materials of
concrete (cement, fine aggregate and coarse
aggregate). The aggregates form the skeleton of
concrete. They occupy nearly 75% of its volume and
affect directly on physical and mechanical properties
of concrete. The indiscriminate extraction of
construction grade sand along the river bed imposes
severe damage to the natural and biological
environments of the river systems. Thus, it is
imperative to find an alternate material for natural sand
to meet the requirements of construction industry
without affecting the environment.
Foundry industry produces metal castings by
pouring molten metal into a preformed mould to yield
resulting hardened cast. The uniform physical
characteristics of high-quality silica sand enable the
foundry industries to purchase and consume a large
quantity of particular size silica sand for their moulding
——————
*Corresponding author (E-mail: mnithya.me@gmail.com)
and casting process. The foundry sand is recycled and
again reused as the moulding material. After recycling
it for many numbers of times, the foundry disposed of
in a landfill and termed as WFS. Indian foundries
produce approximately 1.71 million tons of waste
foundry sand each year (Metal World, 2006). The
scarcity of land-filling space, because of its ever
increasing cost, recycling and utilization of industrial
by-products have become an attractive proposition to
disposal. The continuous depletion of river sand for
construction purposes and dumping of WFS as landfill
are two severe problems that can be solved
simultaneously by using WFS in an actual production
of concrete. The possibility of replacing fine natural
aggregate with WFS without losing strength and
durability offers technical, profitable and eco-friendly
benefits which are of great importance in the
contemporary context of sustainability in the
construction sector.
Some researchers have investigated the use of
waste foundry sand for partial replacement of fine
aggregate in concrete. Siddique et al.3, Singh et al.4,
Khatib et al.5, Etxeberria et al.6, Khatib7 have reported
the mechanical properties of concrete containing waste
foundry sand. Aggarwal et al.8, Siddique et al.9, Merve
Basar et al.10, Kaur et al.11 have investigated the
 NITHYA et al.: PROPERTIES OF CONCETE CONTAINING WASTE FOUNDRY SAND 163

microstructural properties of concrete with WFS. A control mixture (F0) was designed as per BIS
Pathak et al.12 studied the effect of elevated 10262: 200920 to have 28 days compressive strength of
temperatures on properties of self-compacting concrete 36.8 MPa. Eight more concrete mixtures denoted by
containing spent foundry sand. Kraus et al.13 reported F05, F10, F15, F20, F25, F30, F35 and F40 were
the use of WFS in manufacturing self-consolidating prepared by replacement of fine aggregate with
concrete. Navarro-Blasco et al.14 focused on the foundry sand in 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%
re-usage of WFS in calcium aluminates cement based and 40%, respectively. Further details about the
mortars with a high replacement level of natural sand. mixtures were presented in Table 2.
Hence, this paper aims to determine the maximum
percentage of replacement of waste foundry sand Casting and testing of specimens
without sacrificing the strength and durability of 150 mm concrete cubes were cast for compressive
concrete. strength and acid resistance, 150 × 300 mm cylinders
for split tensile strength and samples of size 500 × 100
Experimental Procedure × 100 mm for flexural strength. All the test specimens
The effect of using WFS as partial replacement of were stored at room temperature in the casting room.
fine aggregate on mechanical and durability properties The specimens were immersed in water curing tank
of concrete in various percentages was investigated. after 24 h. After a required period of curing (28 days),
the specimens were taken out of the curing tank, and
Materials and mix proportions their surfaces were wiped off. Tests were performed at
Portland cement of grade 53 conforming to Indian the age of 28 days following BIS 516: 195922.
Standard Specifications BIS 12269 – 198719 was used. After 28 days of curing, all the specimens cast for
Locally available natural sand was used as fine the acid resistance test, were immersed in a solution
aggregate, and crushed stone with 20 mm size was used containing 1% H2SO4 for 60 days. For alkalinity test,
as coarse aggregate. The properties of fine aggregate the broken pieces of tested specimens for compressive
and coarse aggregate were found in accordance BIS strength, after 28 days of curing, were again broken
383-197021. The specific gravity of fine aggregate and into small pieces using the hammer and then powdered.
coarse aggregate was 2.6 and 2.63, respectively. The Each of the powder samples (about 20 g) was put into
unit weight of sand and coarse aggregate was 1762 100 mL of distilled water. The aqueous solution was
kg/m3 and 1571 kg/m3, respectively. Locally available allowed to stand for 72 h and was often agitated, to
waste foundry sand from M/s. Nandhini Castings, enable more of free lime of hydrated cement paste to
Coimbatore, was used as partial replacement of fine get dissolved in water. The pH of the aqueous solution
aggregate. Foundry sand with specific gravity 2.51 and was measured by using pH meter.
water absorption 1.55% was used. Table 1 provides the
chemical composition of foundry sand. Results and Discussion
Compressive strength
Table 1 – Chemical composition of WFS The compressive strength of concrete mixtures
Requirements made with and without WFS was determined at 28 days
Composition
Percentage by ( as per American of curing. At 28 day, control mixture F0 achieved a
weight% Foundry men’s compressive strength of 36.9 MPa, whereas mixture
Society)
F05 achieved a compressive strength of 38.5 MPa. An
Loss of ignition(LOI) 0.25 5.15% (max) increase in compressive strength of 5.14%, 10.04%,
Sand and silica (SiO2) 98.69 87.9%
14.6%, 21.39%, 28.95%, 31.35%, 32.31% was
Calcium oxide (CaO) 0.21 0.14% (min)
achieved for F05, F10, F15, F20, F25, F30, F35
Iron oxide (Fe2O3) 0.13 0.94%
mixtures respectively in comparison with F0 mix. A
Table 2 – Mix proportions of concrete mixtures
Mix no F0 FO5 F10 F15 F20 F25 F30 F35 F40
Cement kg/m3 371 371 371 371 371 371 371 371 371
Water kg/m3 196 196 196 196 196 196 196 196 196
Fine aggregate kg/m3 592 562.4 532.8 503.2 473.6 444 414.4 384.4 355.2
Coarse aggregate kg/m3 1180 1180 1180 1180 1180 1180 1180 1180 1180
164 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., APRIL 2017
decrease in compressive strength of 7.6% was
observed for the mix F40. The inclusion of 35% of
WFS as partial replacement for fine aggregate has
increased the compressive strength of concrete to a
maximum of 32.44% when compared to normal
concrete. The variation of compressive strength of
concrete with and without foundry sand is shown
in Fig. 1.
Split-tensile strength
The 28th-day split-tensile strength of concrete
mixtures made with and without foundry sand was
determined. The variation in split tensile strength with
foundry sand content was similar to that observed in
the case of the compressive strength. The 28 day split
tensile strength of control mix F0 was found as 3.08
MPa. The increase of 5.21%, 7.4%, 14.1%, 17.84%,
21.01%, 23.15%, 26.81% was observed for the
mixtures F05, F10, F15, F20, F25, F30, F35,
respectively and a decrease of 7.3% for F40 mixture
was observed at 28 days. Figure 2 depicts the deviation
of split tensile strength of concrete containing different
percentages of waste foundry sand with that of
conventional concrete.
Fig. 1 – Effect of waste foundry sand on compressive strength of
concrete
Fig. 2 – Effect of waste foundry sand on split tensile strength of
concrete
Flexural strength
The flexural strength of all mixes with WFS was
observed to be greater than the strength of control mix
F0. The 28-day flexural strength of conventional mix
was found to be 4.91 MPa. Like compressive strength
and split tensile strength, the flexural strength of
concrete mixes varied marginally with an increase in
WFS content. The variant of flexural strength of
concrete with and without foundry sand is shown in
Fig. 3.The flexural strength of foundry sand shows an
increase of 4.83%, 8.73%, 14.15%, 17.49%, 22.61%,
24.01%, 28.23% for the mixtures F05, F10, F15, F20,
F25, F30, F35, respectively and a decrease of 8.67%
for F40 mixture was observed at 28 days.
Siddique3 have reported similar results wherein they
established that waste foundry sand can be
appropriately used as partial replacement of sand
without affecting the performance of the concrete and
gained 9.8% increase in compressive strength, 9%
increase in split tensile strength and flexural strength
when fine aggregate is replaced with 30% of WFS.
Likewise, related outcome were reported by Singh4,
Khatib5, Pathak12 in their experimental investigation.
Aggarwal8 proved that the increase in compressive
strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength was
obtained for concrete containing 30% waste foundry
sand at 28 days of normal curing.
Correlation analysis
It is a known fact that concrete mixes will have
relationship between different strengths which is
influenced by factors like characteristics of aggregates,
quality of concrete. Thus, it is essential to model the
relationship between various strengths such as
compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural
strength. Figures 4 and 5 shows the linear regression
relation between split tensile strength and flexural
strength with that of compressive strength and Table 3
shows the obtained regression equation and correlation
co-efficient.
Now based on the linear regression relation between
split tensile strength and compressive strength at
Fig. 3 – Effect of waste foundry sand on flexural strength of
concrete
 NITHYA et al.: PROPERTIES OF CONCETE CONTAINING WASTE FOUNDRY SAND
Fig. 4 – Correlation analysis between compressive strength and
split tensile strength
Fig. 5 – Correlation analysis between compressive strength and
flexural strength
Table 3 – Correlation analysis
Sl.No. Relation ship Linear equation Regression co-efficient
1 CS vs SS y = 0.0844x - 0.0225 R² = 0.981
2 CS vs FS y =0.1442x - 0.4225 R² = 0.982
correlation level of 98.16%, the rate of change
between the strengths were found to be 8.44%. At a
correlation level of 98.28% of the data scatter, the
rate of change of flexural strength as a function of
compressive strength was estimated as 14.4%.
The high value of correlation coefficient emphasizes
that there is strong relationship between split tensile
strength and flexural strength with that of compressive
strength.
Durability properties
The durability of concrete plays a significant role in
serviceability requirements. The strength of concrete is
mainly dependent on the capacity of a fluid to penetrate
the concrete’s microstructure which is called as
permeability18. Hence, the determination of durability
165
Fig. 6 – Compressive strength of concrete before and after acid
attack of 60 days
properties of concrete is based on acid resistance test
and alkalinity test.
Acid resistance test
The acid resistance of the concrete mixtures was
evaluated by measuring the percentage of weight
loss and compressive strength at the age of 60 days,
and the results are shown in Table 4. A decrease
in compressive strength of 20.39%, 19.04%, 21.75%,
19.1%, 20.63%, 21.01%, 20.13%, 20.5% and 21%
was achieved for F0, F05, F10, F15, F20, F25, F30,
F35 and F40 respectively when compared with
the compressive strength of the specimens tested
at 28 days. The comparison of compressive
strength at 28 days and 60 days are presented in
Fig. 6.
Alkalinity measurement
The determination of pH of concrete is necessary
as it relates to alkali-silica reaction, carbonation
and corrosion of embedded steel. Alkali-silica
reactivity has been recognized as a potential source
of distress in concrete. This response leads to
the formation of a hygroscopic alkaline gel which
results in cracking of the concrete. As the pH
or alkalinity of pore solution increases, the potential
for alkali-silica reaction increases. The durability
test results of various types of mixes are shown in
Table 4. It is evident from Table 4 that there is no
significant change in the pH values of concrete
specimens with and without WFS.
 166 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., APRIL 2017

Table 4 – Durability test results

Specimen FO FO5 F10 F15 F20 F25 F30 F35 F40
Compressive strength subjected to
29.44 31.34 31.71 34.22 35.45 37.49 38.61 38.71 26.86
H2SO4 attack (60 days), MPa
Initial weight, kg 2.431 2.442 2.424 2.415 2.446 2.437 2.423 2.452 2.461
Final weight, kg 2.252 2.252 2.237 2.24 2.274 2.269 2.213 2.230 2.210
Weight loss, % 7.36 7.55 7.71 7.66 7.56 7.63 7.67 7.54 7.76
pH value 12.83 12.82 12.83 12.75 12.78 12.67 12.84 12.87 12.73

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19 IS 12269: 1987 Indian Standard Specifications for Ordinary
Acknowledgement Portland Cement (53 grade), Bureau of Indian Standards,
New Delhi.
The authors wish to acknowledge the facilitation
20 IS 10262: 2009 Indian Standard Concrete mix
provided M/s Nandhini Castings, Coimbatore for their proportioning – Guidelines, Bureau of Indian Standards,
support in this research. New Delhi.
21 IS: 383-1970 Indian Standard Specification for coarse and
References fine aggregates from natural sources for concrete, Bureau of
1 https://worldofconcrete.com/attendee/home/international/wo Indian Standards, New Delhi.
cindia 22 IS 516: 1959 Indian Standard Methods of tests for
2 Benefits of concrete recycling http://www.downtoearth.org.in/ strength of concrete, Bureau of Indian Standards,
blog/concrete-without-sand-41849 New Delhi.

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