Assesment to Increase the Mechanical Properties of used Ballast by Edta Solution as a Construction Material

Abstract

Ballast is playing a vital role in taking the huge loads of railways which is strong, durable and also providing maximum stability to track/permanent way. Usually having a 40mm size ballast. The Shape of the ballast is important as its irregular shape and sharp edges help in the interlocking of themselves which gives more stability and passage of drainage. Within its lifetime the ballast used to get rounded edges, unable to stabilize or interlock and losses its strength for this reduction it should be replaced with new ballast. So the waste ballast is considered as our material to be tested in our project by adding the solution called EDTA (ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACETIC ACID) to develop the maximum properties of ballast by crushing them to 10mm, 12.5mm and 20mm size used for road construction. This work was conducted to determine the hardness, toughness, strength of aggregate using EDTA solution. The effectiveness of aggregate using of EDTA was studied in this project by adding required concentrations of 5%, 10% to the aggregates.