Study on the Cement Concrete Incorporated with Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and M-Sand

The search for an alternative material for the traditional construction materials are wide open and many researches have been on progress to find the suitability replacement material for construction in the modern era. The continuous use of the traditional materials such as ordinary Portland cement, river sand lead to major issues related to environmental imbalance. The continuous production of cement leads to contribute equal amount of carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere which in return traps the heat energy below the atmosphere and increase the temperature of the planet. Carbon dioxide is one among the green house gases which is a main contributor for global warming. The use of natural sand resulted in unavailability of river sand and on the other hand the level of the water table gets decreased. So, to reduce the negative effects of cement and river sand, this research focussed on using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Manufactured Sand (M-Sand) in concrete as partial replacement for cement and full replacement for river sand respectively. The percentage of GGBS as replacement for cement is used in the range of 0%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60%. River sand is completely replaced with M-Sand. To determine the properties of GGBS and M-Sand incorporated concrete, concrete cubes, cylinders and prisms of sizes 150 x 150 mm, 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height and 500 x 100 x 100 mm respectively. The compressive strength is determined using concrete cubes and cylinder specimens. The concrete cylinder and prisms specimens are used to determine the tensile strength of the concrete. From the results, it is clearly observed that the concrete with 40% of GGBS and 100% M-Sand showed higher strength compare to all other specimens. The increase in the percentage of GGBS beyond 50% reduces the strength of the concrete. The M-Sand contributed to strength of the concrete is slightly higher and similar to the river sand in concrete. The early age strength of GGBS concrete is lower than control concrete but with increase in curing period (28 days) the strength is higher than control concrete. It is concluded that the usage of GGBS up to 40% and M-Sand can reduce the carbon emission and the degradation of river sand without affecting the strength of the concrete.