Study on cement paste blended with calcined granite powder

Abstract

Granite in India is famous for flooring and also used as concrete aggregate. Granite mineral is processed in the industry and large sheets are made which are used as the flooring of dwelling units. During the processing of granite, the mineral is cut into suitable pieces and polished which produces very fine powder. The fine granite powder is a by-product of the granite industry and which is often used for landfill. On the other hand, the granite crushers industries break the granite to suitable sizes to make concrete aggregates also have this fine granite powder as its by-product. Granite is a hard mineral-rich in silica. The silica-rich mineral can be used in concrete as a mineral additive. The hydration compounds of cement in concrete have free lime and mineral admixtures rich in silica are useful in secondary reacting with the excess lime to form C-S-H gel. In the present study, experimental results are discussed for the suitability of granite powder in concrete manufacturing. In the present work, the cement by partial replacement with granite powder in normal state and calcined state up to 50% and the compressive strength of cement paste is found at 28 days. The results indicate that the partial replacement of cement with granite powder results in only a 10% decrease in strength when cement is replaced up to 30% with granite powder.