Effect of Different Fine Aggregate Characteristics on Fracture Toughness and Microstructure of Sand Concrete

Abstract

The fracture toughness of sand concrete is affected by aggregate characteristics. In order to study the possibility of exploiting tailings sand, available in large quantities in sand concrete, and find an approach to improve the toughness of sand concrete by selecting appropriate fine aggregate. Three distinct fine aggregates have been used. After characterizing the fine aggregate used, the mechanical properties were tested to characterize the toughness of sand concrete, the box-counting fractal dimensions were calculated to analyze the roughness of fracture surfaces, and the microstructure was tested to observe the path and width of microcracks and hydration products in sand concrete. The results show that the mineral composition of fine aggregates is close, but their fineness modulus, fine aggregate angularity (FAA) and gradation vary considerably; FAA has a significant impact on the fracture toughness of sand concrete. The higher the FAA value, the more resistant it is to crack expansion; with the FAA values of from 32 s to 44 s, the microcrack width in sand concrete was reduced from 0.25 um to 0.14 um; The fracture toughness and microstructure of sand concrete are also related to the gradation of fine aggregates, the better gradation can improve the performance of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ). The hydration products in the ITZ are also different because more reasonable gradation of aggregates reduces the voids between the fine aggregates and the cement paste and restrains the full growth of crystals. These results demonstrate that sand concrete has promising applications in the field of construction engineering.