Publication

Abstract : Quarry dust powder is the waste generated from Manufactured Sand (M Sand) units and constitutes to 30–40% of the total quarry dust produced. When dry, it turns into fine dust that causes severe health issues to people and also causes serious threats to environment by polluting soil and water. Transportation and proper disposal of this waste is a tedious task because of its adhesive nature and high water absorption character. The present study reports the suitability of quarry dust powder in the development of concrete building blocks by evaluating its strength, durability, acoustic and thermal properties. Since the mixes showed very dry nature at higher percentages of M Sand replacement, workability was kept in a constant range to find the optimum mix. M Sand was replaced with quarry dust powder in the test specimens at varying percentages of 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 and tests were conducted to study these properties after finalizing the optimum mix. On comparing the results, it was found that compressive and split tensile strength increased and impact strength decreased on replacing M Sand with quarry dust powder. Abrasion resistance, acoustic absorption and sorptivity properties were found to improve at 30% replacement whereas thermal conductivity was found to increase with increasing percentages of M Sand replacement. The results of the study have thus proved the effective use of quarry dust powder in developing concrete building blocks in an economic, effective and sustainable way.