Utilisation of Quartzite as Fine Aggregate in Concrete

Abstract

Increase in construction activities have led to an increase in demand for the various raw materials used in concrete, especially river sand which is conventionally used as fine
aggregate. Due to increase in mining process, the availability of this river sand is becoming scarce and expensive. There is a requirement for reduction in the cost of concrete production has resulted in the increased need to identify substitute material to sand as fine aggregates in the production of concrete. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of quartzite as replacement to fine aggregate in concrete of M30 grade. The fine aggregate was replaced with six different percentages (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 50% and 100 %) of quartzite by weight. Laboratory tests are conducted and performance of quartzite concrete is determined by the workability, density and compressive strength tests. The results indicated that the effectiveness of quartzite sand as 100% replacement material to fine aggregate, without affecting the desired strength