Mechanical Behavior of Concrete Containing Copper Slag and Granite Powder as Alternative Fine Aggregates

Concrete is the most popular building material in the world. It is the most consumable material after water. Concrete is a mixer of binding material, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. Generally Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is used as a binding material, Hard Broken Granite (HBG) stone is used as a coarse aggregate and River sand has been the most popular choice for the fine aggregate component of concrete in the past, but overuse of these materials has led to environmental concerns, the depleting of securable Natural resource deposits and a concomitant price increase in the material. As environmental and cost concerns Industrial waste or industrial by products can be used as a partial or full replacement of natural resources. The present, study concerns with the partial replacement of fine aggregate in conventional concrete. The reduction in the sources of natural sand and the 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. Various type of materials can be used for replacement in fine aggregate. In which, some of the materials are Copper slag, Granite powder, Granulated blast furnace slag, Washed bottom ash, Quarry dust, Foundry sand, Spent fire bricks, Sheet glass powder, Construction and demolition waste, etc. In present study copper slag and granite powder can be used as a partial replacement of sand. Granite stone powder, a by-product from the cutting process of granite stone used for flooring is one of such materials. Copper slag is a by-product obtained during the matte smelting and refining of copper. The reduction in waste generation by manufacturing value-added products from the granite stone waste will boost up the economy of the granite stone industry. The utilization of granite powder and copper slag in high performance concrete could turn this waste material into a valuable resource with the added benefit of preserving environment. At the same time Copper slag possesses mechanical and chemical characteristics that qualify the material to be used in concrete as a partial replacement or as a substitute for fine aggregates since it is available in large quantity from the world copper industry. In recent days there were also been many attempts to use Fly Ash, an industrial by product as partial replacement for cement to have higher workability, long term strength and to make the concrete more economically available. Here it was attempted the use of Pozzolana Portland Cement (PPC) instead of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). This present work is also an attempt to use Granite powder and Copper slag as partial replacement for Sand in M25 grade concrete. Attempts have been made to study the properties of concrete and some properties of Granite powder and Copper slag, their suitability of those properties to enable them to be used as partial replacement materials for sand in concrete.