Laboratory Studies on Utilization of Waste Foundry Sand as a Partial Replacement for Fine Aggregates in Conventional Concrete

Abstract

Developing concrete using alternatives to natural resources is an important issue for environmental protection along with preserving the natural resources and saving of energy for sustainable development. Metal foundries use large amount of sand as part of the metal casting process. Foundries successfully recycle and reuse the sand many times in the casting process. When the sand can no longer be reused in the foundry, it is removed from the foundry it is termed as “waster foundry sand”. The constant depletion of sand beds at all major sources of availability is major concern and thus effects are taken in order to either abolish or replace sand in construction activities particularly in concrete. In present experimental investigation is carried out to evaluate the properties of fresh and hardened concrete containing waste foundry sand as fine aggregate partial replacement. The percentages of replacement 0%, 15%, 20%, and 25% by weight of fine aggregate and tests like slump test, compression strength test, split tensile strength test, flexural strength test and sulphate attack test were performed for all replacement levels of foundry sand for M40 grade concrete. From the test result, the waste foundry sand can be replaced partially up to 20% of fine aggregate in concrete, will be both economical and for high strength purpose.