Enhance the Strength Characteristics of Concrete through the Incorporation of Waste Foundry sand and Metakaolin as Partial Substitutes for Cement and Fine Aggregate

Abstract

Concrete is recognized as the most extensively utilized and adaptable construction material globally. Natural sand or river sand is a critical component of conventional concrete, and its availability is nearing depletion due to extensive utilization. In India, conventional concrete is produced utilizing natural sand sourced from riverbeds as the fine aggregate component. This investigation involves the partial replacement of cement with metakaolin at varying percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%, alongside a 50% replacement of natural sand with ROBO sand. The mechanical properties of concrete, specifically compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strength, are analyzed for concrete incorporating MK-RS as a replacement material, with results compared to those of conventional concrete. In this study, a total of six concrete mixes were prepared using M20 and M25 grades. The average of three specimens was tested at intervals of 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days for each mix.

Introduction

Overview

Modern concrete technology is exploring sustainable alternatives by replacing traditional materials with industrial waste (like quarry dust, Metakaolin, and ROBO sand) to:

• Reduce CO? emissions

• Improve environmental sustainability

• Maintain or enhance structural performance

Historically, concrete-like materials have evolved from Roman and Greek methods using limestone, lime, sand, and water. Technological advancements have since improved concrete's flexibility, strength, and production efficiency.

II. Literature Review

Key findings from past studies:

• Quarry Dust:

  • Rich in silica; can partially replace cement or aggregates.

  • Up to 15% replacement can optimize compressive (26.16 N/mm²), tensile (1.89 N/mm²), and flexural strength (13 N/mm²).

  • Reduces slump and increases water absorption, affecting workability.

• Sawdust & Quarry Dust Mixes:

  • Tested at varying percentages to assess performance.

  • Results show usefulness in partial fine aggregate substitution.

• Workability Observations:

  • Quarry dust reduces workability.

  • Metakaolin, due to its finer particles, fills voids and helps retain workability.

III. Objectives

To evaluate the properties of M20 and M25 grade concrete with varying percentages of:

• Metakaolin (MK) as a partial cement replacement.

• ROBO sand as a partial fine aggregate replacement.
  Main focus: Compressive strength and workability.

IV. Workability Results

Measured by slump test:

• Slump decreases with increased Metakaolin content.

• Metakaolin improves internal packing but reduces flow.

• ROBO sand has minimal impact on workability.

Example (M25 grade):

• Control mix (M0R0): 82 mm slump

• With 10% Metakaolin + 50% ROBO sand (M10R50): 52 mm slump

V. Compressive Strength Results

M20 Concrete (28 Days):

• Control (M0R0): 27.5 N/mm²

• With 10% MK & 50% ROBO sand (M10R50): 32.8 N/mm² (↑ ~18%)

M25 Concrete (28 Days):

• Control (M0R0): 31.6 N/mm²

• With 10% MK & 50% ROBO sand (M10R50): 35.2 N/mm² (↑ ~11%)

Key Insight:

• Optimal strength at 10% Metakaolin replacement.

• Beyond 10%, strength declines.

Conclusion

1) The workability of various concrete mixes is reduced when compared to the control mix. The finer nature of MK enhances the workability of different concrete mixes. MK is utilized to occupy the voids present in the concrete. The ROBO sand does not affect the workability. 2) The test results indicate that the compressive strength of different concrete mixes shows improvement at all ages when compared to the control mix. The results indicate that the compressive strength of M 20 and M 25 grade concrete exhibits an increase at 7, 14, and 28 days as the percentage of Metakaolin is raised from 0% to 10%, in conjunction with 50% ROBO sand. The peak intensity of Metakaolin was recorded at a 10% replacement level, after which a decline was noted. The strength increase for M20 grade concrete at 28 days is observed to be up to 18 percent, while for M25 grade concrete, the strength increase at the same duration is up to 11 percent. 3) At 28 days The maximum compressive strength for M20 and M25 grades of concrete is 32.2 N/mm² and 35.2 N/mm², respectively, when incorporating 10% Metakaolin and 50% Robo Sand.

References

[1] Nova John 2013, ‘Strength Properties of Metakaolin Terrence Ramlochan, Michael Thomas, Karen A. Gruber, “The effect of metakaolin onalkali-silicareactioninconcrete”.Cementandconcreteresearch,2000, Vol30,pp: 339-344 [2] G. Batis, P. Pantazopoulou, S. Tsivilis, E. Badogiannis, “The effect of metakaolin on the corrosion behaviour of cement mortar”, Cement and concrete composites, 2005, Vol 27, pp: 125-130. [3] Nabil,M&AlAkras2006,‘DurabilityofMetakaolinConcretetoSulphate Attack’, Cement and Concrete Research - Elsevier, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 1727 - 1734 [4] Erhan Guneyisi, Mehmet Gesoglu, Kasim Mermerdas, “Improving strength, drying shrinkage and pore structure of concrete using Metakaolin”, Materials and structures, 2007, Vol 12, pp: 10-26. [5] Jibing Bai & Albinas Gailius 2010, ‘Consistency of Flyash and MetakaolinConcrete’,JournalofCivilEngineeringandManagement,vol.15,no.2,pp. 131 – 135 [6] P. Dinakar, “High reactive metakaolin for high strength and high performance concrete”, The Indian Concrete Journal, 2011, pp: 28-34. [7] Muthupriya,P,Subramanian,K&Vishnuram,BG2011,‘Investigationon BehaviourofHighPerformanceReinforcedConcreteColumnswithMetakaolin and Flyash as Admixture’, International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 190 – 202 [8] Vaishali&Ghorpade,G2011,‘ChlorideionPermealiabilityStudiesof MetakaolinbasedHighPerformanceConcrete’,InternationalJournalof Engineering Science and Technology, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1617 – 1623 [9] VikasSrivastava,RakeshKumar&Agarwal,VC2012,‘EffectofSilicaFume and Metakaolin Combination on Concrete’, International Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 893 – 900 [10] Si-Ahmed, M, Belakrouf, A & Kenai, S 2012, ‘Influence of Metakaolin on the PerformanceofMortarsandConcretes’,InternationalJournalofCiviland Structural and Construction Engineering, vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 100 – 103 [11] Admixed Concrete’, InternationalJournalofScientificandResearchPublications,vol.3,no.6,pp.01 – 07 [12] Shelorkar Ajay, P & Jadhao Pradip, D 2013, ‘Strength Appraisal of High Grade Concrete by using High Reactive Metakaolin’, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 657 – 663 [13] Saravanan,J,Suguna,K&Raghunath,PN2014,‘MechanicalPropertiesfor Cement Replacement by Metakaolin Based Cocrete’, International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research, vol. 2, no. 8, pp. 04 – 08 [14] ShriramMahure,H,Mohitkar,V&Ravi,K2014,‘EffectofMetakaolinOn FreshAndHardenedPropertiesOfSelfCompactingConcrete’,International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 137 – 145 [15] Vijay Shankar, GR & Suji, D 2014, ‘Optimum usage of Using Metakaolin andQuarry Dust in HPC’, IOSR Journal of Engineering, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 56 – 59 [16] Suryawanshi,YR&SagarUmbrae2015,‘EffectofVariationElevated Temperature on Compressive Strength of Metakaolin Concrete’, InternationalJournal of Current Engineering and Technology, vol. 5, no. 41, pp. 2316 – 2321 [17] Dhinakaran,G,Thilagavathi,S&Venkataramana,J2012,‘Compressive Strength and Chloride Resistance of Metakaolin concrete’, KSCE Journal of civil Engineering , vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 1209 – 1217

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Roshan Singh , Pushpendra Kumar Kushwaha, Mithun Kumar Rana. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.