Aggregates

Aggregate is a wide category of coarse to medium grained material used in construction, which
includes sand, gravel, crushed stone, recycled concrete and geo-synthetic aggregates, and slag.
Aggregates are the most mined materials in the world; they are an ingredient of composite
materials like concrete and asphalt concrete. Aggregates acts as reinforcement to add strength to
the overall composite material.

Uses of Aggregates
Concrete

- Aggregates provide firm or rigid structure.

- Aggregates reduce shrinkage and cracking.
- Concrete aggregates are used in superstructures and substructures.

Railway Ballast

- To prevent damage to the rails, ground and nearby structures, a very tough aggregate is
needed to support the high weight and also to distribute and transfer it properly to the
ground.
- Ballast aggregates helps resist the overall load, to distribute the load properly to the
supporting ground and to drain the water off the surface.

Drainage application

- Foundation and French drains, road side edge drains, septic drain fields and retaining
wall drains.
- Water filtration and sewage treatment processes

Aggregate Classification
Classification of Aggregates based on size

- Fine aggregate
o When the aggregate is sieved through 4.75mm sieve, the aggregate passed
through is called fine aggregate. The purpose of the fine aggregate is to fill the
voids in the coarse aggregate and to act as a workability agent.
 - Coarse aggregate
o The aggregate retained through 4.75mm sieve is called coarse aggregate. 40mm
size aggregate used for normal strengths and 20mm size is used for high strength
concrete

Classification of aggregates based on Shape

- Rounded aggregate
o Available in the form of seashore gravel. Round aggregates results minimum
percentage of voids (32% - 33%) that gives more workability.
o They require lesser amount of water-cement ratio.
o They are not considered for high strength concrete due to poor interlocking
behavior and weak bond strength.
- Irregular aggregates
o Available in the form of pit sands and gravel. It may result to 35% - 37% of voids
which gives lesser workability compared to rounded aggregates.
o With bond strength slightly higher that rounded aggregates but not required for
high strength concrete.
- Angular Aggregates
o Has well defined edges formed at the intersection of roughly planar surfaces and
these are acquired by crushing the rocks. This aggregates result to maximum
voids (38% - 45%) that gives less workability.
o They give 10% - 20% more compressive strength due to development of stronger
aggregate – mortar bond. Useful in high strength concrete manufacturing.
 o Require less water for lubrication.
- Flaky aggregates
o Thickness is small compared of that aggregate it is said to be flaky aggregate. The
dimension of this aggregate is less than the 60% of its mean dimension.
o Not suitable for concrete mixing
- Elongated Aggregates
o Length of aggregate is larger than the other two dimensions or the length of the
aggregate is greater than 180% of its mean dimension.
o Not suitable for concrete mixing
- Flaky and Elongated aggregates
o Aggregate length is larger than its width and width is larger than its thickness then
it is said to be flaky and elongated aggregates.
o These are generally obtained from the poorly crushed rocks.
o Not suitable for concrete mixing.

Classification of aggregate based on Specific Gravity

- Light weight aggregates

o Contains concrete that is natural or synthetic which weighs less than 1100 kg/m3.
o Lightweight is due to high internal porous microstructure, which gives this type of
aggregate a low bulk specific gravity.
o They have high absorption values; which requires a modified approach to
concrete proportioning. For instance, slump loss in lightweight concrete due to
absorption can be a problem, which can be alleviated by pre-wetting the aggregate
before batching.
o Lightweight aggregates are covered in ASTM C330 (for structural concrete),
C331 (for masonry units), and C332 (for insulating concrete). Additionally, these
specification all contain the requirement that aggregates should be composed of
predominantly lightweight-cellular and granular inorganic material.
- Heavyweight aggregates
o Are natural or synthetic which weigh more than 2,080 kg/m3 and can range up to
4,485 kg/m3.
o Used for radiation shield, counterweights and other applications where a high
mass-to-volume ratio is desired.
o ASTM C637 covers aggregates used for radiation shield.
 - Normal weight aggregate
o Crushed stone, gravel and ordinary sand are examples of normal weight
aggregate.
o They are used in manufacture of normal weight concrete, asphalt concrete and
roadway sub-base.
o The average values of sp.gr. for sand and gravel are 2.6 and 2.65. Bulk density of
normal weight aggregate is around 1520 to 1680 kg/m3.

Classification of Aggregates by availability

- Natural Gravel
o River or seashore gravels; desert, seashore and windblown sands.
o Rounded by nature
o Fully water worn or completely shaped by attrition
- Crushed aggregates
o Crushed rocks of all types
o Angular in nature

Classification of Aggregates by Texture

- Smooth surface texture aggregates

o Generally hard, dense and fine-grained aggregates. These have lesser surface area
because of lesser irregularities.
o When employed with cement, lesser amount of cement is needed for lubrication
purpose.
o With increase in surface smoothness, contact area decreases. Meaning a highly
polished particle will have less bonding area with the matrix. Due to less water
 requirement, these produce high compressive strength but with poor bonding and
interlocking.
- Rough Textures aggregate
o Have higher strength in tension. Helps in developing bond strength tension. These
will develop lower compressive strength.

Influence of Texture of aggregate on the Strength of the concrete

Aggregates

Submitted by:
Group 1
Agustin, Mark Joshua M.
Diche, Timothy John C.
Carandang, Tom Daniel G.