Correlations between the properties of crushed fine aggregates

Abstract

Aggregates are essential in the production of composite building materials and their properties and characteristics influence the performance of these materials in use. Nevertheless, despite the existence of several standardized and other methods for testing aggregates, the inherent inhomogeneity of these geomaterials does not permit the establishment of rigid specifications for their quality. Hence, research on aggregate testing and quality control is always timely. This paper presents the results of standardized (soundness, Micro-Deval, sand equivalent, methylene blue, water absorption, and relative density) and non-standardized (PXRD) laboratory tests performed on crushed fine aggregates of different mineralogical composition quarried in Cyprus. From these results, it is evident that the mineralogical composition of aggregates affects their physicomechanical properties. A good correlation was observed between the magnesium sulphate soundness coefficient and the Micro-Deval coefficient. This may lead to the introduction of an alternative test method for the quality testing of fine aggregates at European level. A reasonable correlation was also noted between the methylene blue and sand equivalent test results, despite the fact that the literature does not seem to support such a relationship. No further correlations were observed among the rest of the properties investigated.