Experimental Analysis of the Performance of Chippings, Stonedust, and Sand in the Production of durable Sandcrete Hollow Blocks

Abstract

Sand is one of the most important building elements used to make sandcrete blocks. River sand is rapidly vanishing from river beds as a result of over-exploitation and because the mechanical properties of sandcrete blocks have a significant impact on the longevity of structures made of them, the goal of this study was to explore if using different materials instead of river sand in the production process may boost the strength of hollow sandcrete blocks. Conventional block moulding machine was used to make several units of sandcrete hollow blocks (450 X 225 X 150 mm) for three different categories of blocks containing stonedust, chippings, and sand. Stonedust is used to replace 100 percent of the sand in category A, 50 percent stonedust plus 50 percent chippings in category B, and 40 percent stonedust, 40 percent chippings, and 20 percent sand in category C. The blocks were made with a cement ratio of 1:6. There were 90 blocks cast in all, with the compressive strength and additional tests performed at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. SigmaPlot 14.0 was used to conduct the statistical analysis of the result. The compressive strengths of hollow sandcrete block samples made from stonedust and chipping were found to be the highest with 6.67N/mm² which is higher than those of other samples. The results reported for all of the samples are higher than the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS), demonstrating that utilizing these materials to partially or completely replace sand increases block compressive strength.