Effect of Granite Dust as Sand Replacement on Cement Mortar

Industrial waste generation has been steadily increasing, necessitating sustainable waste management strategies. GraniteGranite dust, a by-product of the coarse aggregate production process is obtained from crushing rocks in rubble crusher units that contributes to this waste stream. This study proposes the usage of graniteGranite dust as an additive or replacement in mortar to mitigateMitigate environmental and health hazards. However, the literature on the use of very fine fly dry graniteGranite dust with average particle size of 63 micron as a partial sand replacement in mortar production is limited. Therefore, this paper presents an experimental investigation on the effect of incorporating graniteGranite dust as a sand replacement, varying from 5 to 20%, with a water-cement ratio of 0.5 to enhance the mortar strength. Chemical composition analysis via X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), microstructural observation and compression tests were performed to evaluate the properties of mortar samples. XRF analysis confirmed that silica oxide (SiO) was the predominant element present in graniteGranite dust. The compression tests utilized 50 mm mortar cubes, which were tested at 3, 7, 14, and 28-day intervals. The results revealed that the inclusion of 20% graniteGranite dust as a sand replacement produced the highest compressive strength, reaching 27.58 MPa on the 28th day. Consequently, the utilization of graniteGranite dust as an environmental-friendly sand replacement offers a promising solution for producing high-strength mortar.