Mechanical and Abrasion Resistance Properties of Concrete Containing Recycled Abrasive Waste as Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregate

In grinding wheel, the stub portion is unused and dumped after end of its primary purpose. The portion, which is considered as waste, has unused abrasives in it. The present work deals with reusing this abrasive waste as the replacement material for sand in concrete production. Reuse of the crushed vitrified brown alumina abrasive wheel which passes through 80 mesh can be used as a partial replacement for sand in concrete production. Structural properties of the crushed abrasive waste were analysed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopic analysis. Concrete samples were made with five different replacement ratios of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% to replace the fine aggregate(sand) in concrete. Mechanical properties such as compressive, split-tensile, flexural strength and water absorption properties of the prepared concrete were determined. It was found that partial replacement of sand by abrasive waste was able to increase the compressive by 32%, tensile strength by 17% and flexural strength by 14%. Abrasive resistance of the concrete was measured using sand blasting equipment. Concrete with 40% abrasive waste shows around 83% improvement in abrasive resistance. The reuse of abrasive wastes as a partial replacement of sand in concrete is seen to enhance its mechanical properties and enable proper utilisation of these non-biodegradable solid wastes for better environment.