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Wilma Caldwell
Architectural technologist
Asked a question 2 years ago

What is the Percentage of Stone Dust that can be added along with Fine Aggregate in different Designs of Concrete (Say M-20)?

What is the percentage of stone dust that can be added along with fine aggregate in different designs of concrete (Say M-20)? What is the difference between the concrete with and without dust? Does adding dust helps in increasing/decreasing strength?

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Difference between concrete with and without dust:

The compressive strength of concrete will increase after adding dust in it.

Various research shows maximum compressive strength at 60% dust used in concrete.

When we talk about workability then dust concrete has low workability as compared to no dust concrete.  

I hope so you found my answer more helpful to you.

Thank You.

Hi Wilma

I answered the question by referring IS: 1489 – 1991 (part-1)

  1. For M20 grade, 25% is the optimum percentage of stone dust mix with the concrete. 30% of stone dust requires relative high cement content.
  2. If 50% replacement of sand 450 kg per meter cube cement needed to achieve the target means strength for M25 grade. Also, the increase in water-cement ratio didn’t yield a positive result.

Cement with stone dust field all the small powers and voids, which ultimately increases the compressive strength. It also decreases the amount of cement and increases the durability of the specimen.

The answer to the last question you asked,

yes, the use of stone dust in cement increases the compressive strength. Because it fills all the pores and fine voids, which make the concrete void-free and increase the flexural strength. But if the use of stone dust above the limit decreases the compressive strength and workability.

Hope you get the answer.

Henry Newman
Water resource engineer

Due to the auspicious attribute of concrete, such as durability, availability, versatility, good compressive strength, it is one of the most commonly used building materials throughout the world. The demand for infrastructural facilities is increasing day by day, which creates tremendous pressure on concrete as well as on natural aggregates. Apparently, it becomes unavoidable to look for alternative materials. On the other hand, the disposal of stone dust generated from stone crusher is becoming a problem. 

Substituting sand by stone dust will serve the waste management as well as the alternative material in concrete. The present research aims to find out the strength aspect of concrete by using stone dust as a partial replacement of sand. The test specimens were made from three different grades of concrete i.e., mix ratios 1: 1.5: 3, 1: 2: 4, 1: 2.5: 5, and both compressive as well as tensile strength tests were conducted. The basic strength properties of concrete were investigated by replacing natural sand by stone dust at replacement levels of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% & 60%. 

For the different grades of concrete studied, the value of the compressive strength is observed to be maximum at a 30% replacement level of sand. In contrast, the maximum tensile strength occurs at a 20% replacement level. The result shows that the maximum increase in compressive and tensile strength is 15% and 12%, respectively, in comparison to normal concrete (0% sand replacement level) for the concrete mix-ratio 1: 1.5: 3.

cubes to study the strength of concrete made of crushed rock material, and the results were compared with the natural sand concrete. Compressive strength was determined at seven days and 28 days using M20 and M30 grade concrete with and without using quarry dust. From the test results, it was found that the compressive strength concrete made of crushed rock material is nearly 13% more than the conventional concrete.

The performance of concrete using stone dust as a replacement to sand. Sand was replaced by quarry dust from 0 to 100% at an increment of 25%. Compressive strength and tensile strength tests were conducted using 43 grade OPC in M20 concrete. Compressive strength was computed at the age of 7 days, 28 days, and 60 days. From the test results, he observed that all the mixes except 50% replacement achieved the target strength. 

The stone dust decreases the workability of concrete due to the larger portions of fine particles. 11 At 75% of sand replacement, the percentage of increase in compressive and tensile strength was 40 and 28 compared with the reference mix, respectively. The unit weight increases with an increase in the percentage of replacement of sand. He concluded that sand could be replaced by stone dust available locally without affecting the strength of concrete.