CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND TESTING • Fine Aggregates – passing sieve no 4 (4.

75mm)

AGGREGATES 177-178, 180-181, 183 to 193, 212 - The material, which is passed through
4.7625mm sieve, is termed as fine
- is a granular material, such as sand, gravel,
aggregates. Usually natural river sand is
crushed stones, crushed hydraulic cement
used as fine aggregates. But places where
or air-cooled iron blast furnace slag with
natural sand is not available economically,
hydraulic cement to produce either
finely crushed stone may be used as fine
concrete or mortar.
aggregates.
There are three main uses if aggregates in civil
AGGREGATES USES
engineering:
Aggregates are used primarily as an underlying
- as an underlying material for foundations
material for foundations and pavements as rip-rap
and pavements, as riprap for erosion
for erosion control, and as ingredients in Portland
protection, and
cement and asphalt concretes. Aggregate
- as ingredients in Portland cement and
underlying materials, or base courses, can add
asphalt concrete
stability to a structure, provide a drainage layer, and
Generally, in civil engineering, the term aggregate protect the structure from frost damage
means a mass of crushed stone, gravel, sand, etc,
• In portland cement concrete, 60% to 75% of the
predominantly composed of individual particles,
volume and 79% to 85% of the weight are made up
but in some cases including clays and silts. The
of aggregates. The aggregates act as a filler to
largest particle size in aggregates may have a
reduce the amount of cement paste needed in the
diameter as large as 150 mm (6 in.), and the
mix. In addition, aggregates have greater volume
smallest particle can be as fine as 5 to 10 mm
sta bility than the cement paste. Therefore,
(0.0002 to 0.0004 in.).
maximizing the amount of aggregate, to a certain
Natural sources for aggregates include gravel pits, extent, improves the quality and economy of the
river run deposits, and rock quarries. Generally, mix.
gravel comes from pits and river deposits, whereas
• In asphalt concrete, aggregates constitute 75% to
crushed stones are the result of processing rocks
85% of the volume and 92% to 96% of the mass.
from quarries. Usually, gravel deposits must also be
The asphalt cement acts as a binder to hold the
crushed to obtain the needed size distribution,
aggregates together but does not have enough
shape, and texture.
strength to lock the aggregate particles into
Manufactured aggregates can use slag waste from position. As a result, the strength and stability of
iron and steel mills and expanded shale and clays asphalt concrete depend mostly on interparticle
to produce lightweight aggregates. Heavyweight friction between the aggregates and, to a limited
concrete, used for radiation shields, can use steel extent, on the binder.
slag and bearings for the aggregate.
AGGREGATE PROPERTIES
TWO GROUPS BY SIZE
• Particle Shape and Surface Texture
• Coarse Aggregates – retained sieve no 4
- The shape and surface texture of the individual
(4.75mm)
aggregate particles determine how the material will
- The material retained on 4.7625mm size pack into a dense configuration and also determine
sieve is termed as coarse aggregates. the mobility of the stones within a mix. There are
Broken stone is generally used as coarse two considerations in the shape of the material:
aggregates. For thin slabs, and walls, the angularity and flakiness.
maximum size of coarse aggregates should
be limited to one third the thickness of the
concrete section.
Generally, angular and rough-textured aggregates The soundness by freeze-thaw and potential
produce bulk materials with higher stability than expansion from hydrated reactions are alternative
rounded, smooth-textured aggregates. However, screening tests for evaluating soundness. The
the angular aggregates will be more difficult to work durability of aggregates in Portland cement
into place than rounded aggregates, since their concrete can be tested by rapid freezing and
shapes make it difficult for them to slide across thawing (ASTM C666), critical dilation by freezing
each other. Due to the size differences between (ASTM C671), and by frost resistance of coarse
coarse and fine aggregates, different test methods aggregates in airentrained concrete by critical
are used for their evaluation. dilation (ASTM C682).

• Texture of Course Aggregates • Toughness, Hardness and Abrasion Resistance

The roughness of the aggregate surface plays an The ability of aggregates to resist the damaging
important role in the way the aggregate compacts effect of loads is related to the hardness of the
and bonds with the binder mate rial. Aggregates aggregate particles and is described as the
with a rough texture are more difficult to compact toughness or abrasion resistance. The aggregate
into a dense con figuration than smooth must resist crushing, degradation, and
aggregates. Rough texture generally improves disintegration when stockpiled, mixed as either
bonding and increases interparticle friction. In Portland cement or asphalt concrete, placed and
general, natural gravel and sand have a smooth compacted, and exposed to loads.
texture, whereas crushed aggregates have a rough
The Los Angeles abrasion test (ASTM C131, C535)
texture.
evaluates the aggregates’ toughness and abrasion
Since the stability of portland cement concrete is resistance. In this test, aggregates blended to a
mostly developed by the cementing action of the fixed size distribution are placed in a large steel
portland cement and by the aggregate interlock, it drum with standardsized steel balls that act as an
is desirable to use rounded and smooth aggregate abrasive charge.
particles to improve the workability of fresh
• Absorption
concrete during mixing.
Although aggregates are inert, they can capture
The stability of asphalt concrete and base courses
water and asphalt binder in surface voids. The
is mostly developed by the aggregate interlock.
amount of water the aggregates absorb is important
Therefore, angular and rough particles are desirable
in the design of port land cement concrete, since
for asphalt concrete and base courses in order to
moisture captured in the aggregate voids is not
increase the stability of the materials in the field
available to react with the cement or to improve the
and to reduce rutting. Flaky and elongated
workability of the plastic concrete.
aggregates are undesirable for asphalt concrete,
since they are difficult to compact during There is no specific level of aggregate absorption
construction and are easy to break. that is desirable for aggregates used in portland
cement concrete, but aggregate absorption must
• Soundness and Durability
be evaluated to determine the appropriate amount
The ability of aggregate to withstand weathering is of water to mix into the concrete.
defined as soundness or durability. Aggregates
Absorption is also important for asphalt concrete,
used in various civil engineering applications must
since absorbed asphalt is not available to act as a
be sound and durable, particularly if the structure is
binder. Thus, highly absorptive aggregates require
subjected to severe climatic conditions. Water
greater amounts of asphalt binder, making the
freezing in the voids of aggregates generates
mix less economical. On the other hand, some
stresses that can fracture the stones.
asphalt absorption is desired to promote bonding
The soundness test (ASTM C88) simulates between the asphalt and the aggregate. Therefore,
weathering by soaking the aggregates in either a low-absorption aggregates are desirable for
sodium sulfate or a magnesium sulfate solution. asphalt concrete.
These sulfates cause crys tals to grow in the
aggregates, simulating the effect of freezing.
Demonstrates the four moisture condition states Four Types:
for an aggregate particle.
* Bulk-Dry Specific Gravity

The ratio of the mass of a dry aggregate to the

volume of the aggregate (including both the solid
material and the voids between particles). It does
not account for the moisture content in the
aggregate.

This is typically used when the aggregate is in a

completely dry state, often for standardization in
testing.

Moisture in the aggregate, especially surface water,

is not considered. Thus, it gives an accurate
Problem: measure when the aggregate is completely dry.
A sample of sand has the following properties: * Bulk SSD (Surface Saturated Dry) Specific
Moist mass = 625.2 g Dry mass = 589.9 g Gravity
Absorption = 1.6% Determine (a) total moisture
content and (b) free moisture content. Refers to the ratio of the mass of the aggregate
when it is in a saturated condition (i.e., water fills
the voids in the aggregate but there is no free water
on the surface) to the volume of the aggregate,
including the voids between particles.

This measurement is important because it

accounts for the aggregate's void space being fully
saturated with water but without excess moisture
50 kg of gravel is mixed with 30 kg of sand. The on the surface. It is especially useful for concrete
gravel has a moisture content of 3.9% and mix designs, where the aggregate’s moisture
absorption of 4.7%, whereas the sand has a content affects the water-cement ratio.
moisture content of 3.5% and absorption of 4.9%.
What is the amount of water required to increase In SSD condition, any water that was previously
the moisture contents of both gravel and sand to absorbed by the aggregate's internal voids is
reach absorption? considered, but surface water is excluded.

* Apparent Specific Gravity

The ratio of the mass of the aggregate (excluding

the voids between particles) to the volume it
occupies (excluding the volume of voids between
the particles).

Use: This is used when you want the specific gravity

• Specific Gravity of the solid material only, without considering the
air voids between the particles.
Density, the mass per unit volume, could be used
for these calculations. However, specific gravity Surface moisture does not affect this value, and
(Sp. Gr.), the mass of a material divided by the mass internal voids are ignored in the volume calculation,
of an equal volume of distilled water, is more making it a measure of the solid material of the
commonly used. aggregate itself.
 STRENGTH AND MODULUS

The tensile strength of aggregates ranges from 0.7

to 16 MPa (100 to 2300 psi), while the compressive
strength ranges from 35 to 350 MPa (5000 to
50,000 psi).

The modulus of elasticity of aggregates is not

usually measured. However, new mechanistic
based methods of pavement design require an
estimate of the modulus of aggregate bases. Since
SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND ABSORPTION OF the modulus is used for pavement design, dynamic
COARSE AGGREGATES loads are used in a test to simulate the magnitude
and duration of stresses in a pavement base
The specific gravity and absorption of coarse
caused by a moving truck.
aggregates are determined in accordance with
ASTM C127. GRADATION
To compute: Describes the particle size distribution of the
aggregate. The particle size distribution is an
important attribute of the aggregates. Large
aggregates are economically advantageous in
portland cement and asphalt concrete, as they
have less surface area and, therefore, require less
binder.

Gradation is evaluated by passing the aggregates

through a series of sieves.

FINENESS MODULUS

A measure of the fine aggregates’ gradation and is

used primarily for portland cement concrete mix
design. It can also be used as a daily quality control
check in the production of concrete.

The fineness modulus is one-hundredth of the

The specific gravity and absorption of fine
sum of the cumulative percentage weight
aggregates are determined in accordance with
retained on the 0.15-, 0.3-, 0.6-, 1.18-, 2.36-, 4.75-
ASTM C128.
, 9.5-, 19.0-, 37.5-, 75-, and 150-mm (No. 100, 50,
To compute: 30, 16, 8, and 4 and 3/8 sieves). fineness modulus
for fine aggregates should be in the range of 2.3 to
3.1, with a higher number being a coarser
aggregate.

SAMPLE COMPUTATION
SAMPLING AGGREGATES

Typically, aggregate samples are taken from the top,

middle, and bottom of the stock pile and then
combined. Before taking the samples, discard the
75 to 150 mm (3 to 6 in.) material at the surface.

Field sample sizes are governed by the nominal

maximum size of aggregate particles (ASTM D75).
Larger-sized aggregates require larger samples to
minimize segregation errors. Field samples are
typically larger than the samples needed for
testing. Therefore, field samples must be reduced
using sample splitters.

COMMERCIAL SIZES OF AGGREGATES