Capillary Water Absorption of ConcreteIncorporating Waste Foundry Sand

The potential uses and the high cost of land-filling of used foundry sands have prompted research into their beneficial reuse. This paper presents the results of experimental research into concrete produced by replacing the natural aggregates with recycled aggregates coming from foundry industries. Little work has been done so far on the effect of used foundry sand on the engineering properties and durability of concrete including compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity and especially capillary water absorption. The main aim of this work was to determine capillary water absorption. Capillary water absorption, compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity at 90 days of curing were reported in this investigation. The natural sand replacements levels with waste foundry sand (W.F.S) were 30%, 60% and 100%. Coarse natural aggregate was used in all cases and the amount of cement and W/C ratio of 0.5 remained constant in the all mixes. There was an increase in capillary water absorption (C.W.A), a decrease in compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity (U.P.V) with the increase in used foundry sand content in concrete.

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