AGGREGATES

Introduction
• Concrete is the second largest used material worldwide.
• Aggregate -an inert & relatively inexpensive filler in concrete
• Annual aggregate consumption : 15 billion tons
• The aggregate phase is predominantly responsible for the
– Unit weight
– Elastic modulus and
– Dimensional stability of concrete.
• Properties of concrete depend to a large extent on the
physical characteristics of the aggregate like bulk density
and strength
Classification of Aggregates
Based on particle size:
– coarse aggregate -particles larger than 4.75 mm
– fine aggregate -particles smaller than 4.75 mm.
Based on bulk density:
– Lightweight aggregates -bulk densities less than 1120 kg/m3
– heavyweight aggregates -more than 2080 kg/m3.
Based on source:
– natural mineral aggregates -concrete aggregates comprised of
sand, gravel, and crushed rock derived from natural sources.
– synthetic aggregates -thermally processed materials such as
expanded clay and shale, which are used for making lightweight
concrete
– Aggregates made from industrial by-products (e.g., blast-furnace
slag and fly ash) also belong to this category.
Various types of aggregates

• Self study
Aggregate characteristics affecting concrete properties
Natural mineral aggregates
• Most important class of aggregates for making
portland cement concrete.
• Derived from rocks of several types and most
rocks are themselves composed of several
minerals.
• A mineral is defined as a naturally occurring
inorganic substance of definite chemical
composition and usually of a specific crystalline
structure.
Eg: Quartz, gypsum, feldspar etc.
• An ore is a natural mineral that can be mined for
profit.
– Eg: Bauxite, iron ore etc.
Common rocks used as aggregates
Rocks
• According to the origin, rocks are classified into
three major groups:
– Igneous
– Sedimentary and
– Metamorphic
• 95% of the outer earth’s crust is composed of
igneous & metamorphic rocks.
• 75% of rocks exposed on the surface of earth are
sedimentary.
Igneous rocks
• Formed by cooling of the magma either above, or
below, or near the earth’s surface.
• The degree of crystallinity and the grain size of
igneous rocks, therefore, vary with the rate at
which magma was cooled at the time of rock
formation.
• Grain size has a significant effect on the rock
characteristics
Igneous rocks
• Intrusive or plutonic rocks: Magma intruded at great depths
cools at a slow rate and forms completely crystalline
minerals with coarse grains (>5 mm grain size).
E.g., granite, gabbro, pegmatite
• Rocks formed near the surface of the earth contain minerals
with smaller crystals called shallow-intrusive or hypabyssal
• Extrusive or volcanic rocks: When the molten matter cools
rapidly on the earth’s surface, resulting in rocks with smaller
crystals. E.g., basalt, andesite, rhyolite.
Igneous rocks
Igneous rocks
Sedimentary rocks
• Stratified rocks that are formed by deposition of mineral or
organic particles at Earth’s surface followed by cementation.
• Lithification can occur as a result of sedimentation,
crystallization or compaction.
• Shale, sandstone and limestone make up 46, 32 & 22% of
all sedimentary rocks respectively.
– mechanically deposited either in an unconsolidated or
physically consolidated state ex: gravel, sand, silt & clay
– mechanically deposited and consolidated usually with
chemical cement. Ex: Sandstone quartzite
– chemically deposited and consolidated. Ex: Chert & flint
Sedimentary rocks
Metamorphic rocks
• Formed when pre-existing rocks are subjected to
heat & pressure.
• Recrystallization often occurs, and the resulting
rocks have typically large crystals with a well
defined cleavage.
• Example: marble, gneiss, schist, slate etc.
• Dense but frequently foliated.
Metamorphic rocks
Metamorphic rocks
Minerals in Aggregate
• Silica Minerals
– Quartz
» Hard mineral composed of SiO2
» Present in Igneous rocks (>65% SiO2)
» Due to resistance in weathering, it is important
constituent of many sand and gravel deposits
– Opal
» Hydrous silica mineral
» Found in sedimentary rocks

– Tridymite & Cristobalite

» Crystalline silica minerals

– Chalcedony
» Porous silica mineral
Minerals in Aggregate
Minerals in Aggregate
• Silicate Minerals
– Feldspar
» Most abundant rock forming minerals in Earth crust.
» Important constituents of igneous, sedimentary and
metamorphic rocks.
» Hard as quartz
– Amphibole
– Pyroxene
– Olivine
Amphibole

Pyroxene

Olivine
Minerals in Aggregate
• Carbonate Minerals

Calcite Dolomite
• Sulfide and sulfate minerals

pyrite marcasite
Aggregate Production
• Deposits of coarse-grained soil are a good source of natural
sand and gravel.
• Soil deposits may contain silt and clay, which adversely
affect the properties of both fresh and hardened concrete.
• These contaminants must be removed by washing or dry
screening.
• The choice of process between washing and dry screening
of silt and clay will influence the amount of deleterious
substances in the aggregate.
• Crushing equipment is a part of the aggregate production
facilities because over-size gravel may be crushed and
blended suitably with the uncrushed material of similar size.
• Choice of crushing equipment may determine the shape of
particles.
Aggregate Production
• With laminated sedimentary rocks, jaw-and-impact type
crushers tend to produce flat particles.
• In modern plants, there are necessary equipments for
carrying out operations involving crushing, cleaning, size
separation and combining two or more fractions to meet the
customer specifications.
Aggregate Production
Aggregate Production
• Synthetic lightweight aggregates such as expanded clays,
shales and slate are produced by heat treatment of suitable
materials.
• Raw material is crushed and sized and then exposed to
temperatures of the order of 1000 to 11000c such that a
portion of the material fuses to provide a viscous melt.
• As a result of chemical decomposition of some of the
constituents present in the raw materials, evolved gases are
entrapped by the viscous melt, expanding the sintered
mass.
• Either carbonaceous matter or a carbonate mineral is the
source of these gases.
• Alkalies and other impurities in clay or shale are responsible
for melt formation at low temperatures.
Aggregate Production
• Heat treatment is carried out in a gas or an oil-fired rotary
kiln.
• Many plants vacuum saturate the product with moisture
before delivery to customer in order to facilitate better
control on the consistency of fresh concrete.
• Properties of concrete are greatly affected by the external
coating on the aggregate particle and the internal void
distribution.

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Density and Apparent specific gravity
– Bulk density:
• Mass of aggregate particles that would fill a unit
volume.
• Term bulk is used since volume is occupied by both
aggregates and voids.
• Bulk density of normal aggregates ranges from 1300
to 1750 kg/m3.
– Apparent specific gravity
• Density of the material including internal pores
• Specific gravity of common rocks ranges between
2.6 and 2.7
Absorption and Surface Moisture
– Absorption capacity
• Total amount of moisture required to bring an
aggregate from the oven-dry to the SSD condition.

• Effective Absorption: Amount of moisture required to bring

an aggregate from air-dry to SSD condition.
• Amount of water in excess of water required for SSD
condition is referred to as the surface moisture.
Absorption and Surface Moisture
• Absorption capacity of an aggregate can be used as a rough
measure of porosity and strength.
• Effective absorption values of trap rocks, porous sandstone and
expanded shale aggregates are ½, 5 and 10 percent respectively.
• Damp sands may suffer from a phenomenon known as bulking.
• Depending upon the amount of moisture and aggregate grading,
increase in bulk volume of the sand may occur.
• Because the surface tension of water keeps the particles apart, fine
sands show more bulking.
• As wide variations can occur in batch quantities due to damp
condition of aggregates, proportioning of concrete mixture by mass
has become the standard practise.
Crushing strength, Abrasion Resistance and Elastic Modulus

• Crushing strength, Abrasion Resistance and Elastic

Modulus of aggregate are inter-related properties that are
greatly influenced by porosity.
• Generally natural aggregates are dense and strong.
• Crushing strength of normally used aggregates are in the
range of 210 to 310 MPa and elastic modulus of 70-90 GPa.
Soundness
• An aggregate is said to be unsound when the volume
changes in the aggregates induced by weather result in
deterioration of concrete.
• Concretes containing some cherts, shales, lime stone and
sandstones have found susceptible to damage by frost
action or by salt crystallization.
• Unsoundness is related to pore size distribution rather than
the total porosity of aggregate.
• A pore size distribution that allows the aggregate particles to
get saturated on wetting but prevent easy drainage on
drying is capable of causing high hydraulic pressure within
the aggregate particles.
Size and Grading
• Grading is the distribution of particles of a granular material
among various size ranges.
• Affects workability and cost.
• Aggregates that do not have a large deficiency or excess of
any particle size produce the most workable and economical
concrete mixtures.
• Maximum size of aggregate is designated by the sieve size
on which 15% or more are retained.
• Maximum aggregate size should not be larger 1/5th of the
narrowest dimension of the form in which concrete is to be
placed and also it should not be larger than 3/4th of the
maximum clear distance between the reinforcing bars.
Size and Grading
• As large particles tend to produce more micro-cracks in the
interfacial transition zone between the coarse aggregate and
cement paste, with high strength cement mixtures, the
maximum aggregate size is limited to 19mm.
• Fineness modulus- sum of cumulative percentage of
aggregate retained /100
• Higher the fineness modulus, coarser the aggregate.
Shape
• Influence properties of fresh concrete more than hardened
concrete.
• Shape refers to geometrical characteristics such as round,
angular, elongated or flaky.
• Particles shaped by attrition tend to become rounded by
losing edges and corners.
• Wind blown sands, as well as sand ad gravel from river
beds or seashores have a well-rounded shape.
• Crushed intrusive rocks possess well-defined edges and
corners and are called angular.
• Those particles in which thickness is small relative to two
other dimensions are referred to as flat or flaky.
• Those particle which are bigger in length than the other two
dimensions are called elongated.
Shape
• Sphericity: ratio of surface area to volume.
• Spherical particles have lower sphericity but elongated and
flaky particles possess high sphericity.
• Elongated, blade-shaped aggregate particles should be
avoided or limited to a maximum of 15% by mass of total
aggregate.
Surface Texture
• Degree to which the aggregate surface is smooth or rough.
• It depends on hardness, grain size and porosity of parent
rock and its exposure.
• Obsidian, flint and dense slags show a smooth, glassy
texture.
• Sands, gravel and chert are smooth in their natural state.
• Crushed rocks like granite, basalt and lime stone show a
rough texture.
• Pumice, expanded slag and sintered fly ash show a
honeycombed texture with visible pores.
Deleterious Substances
• Minor constituents of either fine or coarse aggregate but are
capable of adversely affecting the workability, setting and
hardening and durability characteristics of concrete.