Building Tomorrow’s Society

Bâtir la Société de Demain

Fredericton, Canada

June 13 – June 16, 2018/ Juin 13 – Juin 16, 2018

THE USE OF GRANITE SLURRY IN MASONRY MANUFACTURING

Attia, Nada1,4, Moustafa, Omar1,Abdeldayem, Mohamed1,Yanni, Rafik1, Elsobky,

Basma1, Elweleily, Omar1, Darwish, Mohamed2, Rashwan, Mohamed2, Abouzeid,
Mohamed3 and Fahmy, Ezzat3
1Student,American University in Cairo, Egypt
2AdjunctFaculty, American University in Cairo, Egypt
3Professor, American University in Cairo, Egypt
4Corresponding Author: nadatarattia@aucegypt.edu

Abstract: The waste powder produced during granite manufacturing has been a source of significant
pollution and health hazards. The use of this waste powder in concrete has been studied by several
researchers. The current study involves partial replacement of the fine aggregates by five different
proportions of granite waste powder in the mix of the concrete used for producing concrete bricks. Wet
and dry tests on concrete bricks are performed. The effect of varying the percentage of granite waste
powder on the various properties of the produced masonry are assessed and compared to a control
group with no powder involved. The mixtures having the highest strengths are determined and used to
construct masonry prisms subjected to compression. The mix used to construct the prism surviving the
highest compression is considered as the one adequate for future masonry production. The initial
results indicate that incorporating such waste in masonry walls can be one promising venue for its
utilization in the construction industry.

Keywords: Granite Waste; Cement bricks; Granite Slurry; Masonry

1 INTRODUCTION

Egypt has got huge stores of amazing granite and stone. World Stone generation achieved the pinnacle
of somewhere in the range of 75 million tons (or 820 million m2 proportionate), net of quarry waste (El-
Sayed, 2016). The official generation figures of Egypt are striking; yet, the genuine creation is
extensively higher than the level demonstrated by the official insights and possibly past the levels
assessed over the span of the examination featured. The estimations in light of the data recovered
through neighborhood appraisal credited to Egypt: a quarry generation of around 3.2 million tons and
more than 25 unique sorts of Egyptian stone (El-Sayed, 2016). This shows the nation lies among the
main 8 world makers of crude material. The normal yearly rate of increment has achieved 8.8% since
2002(Allam, 2014).

Concerning quarry creation and crude fare, Egypt is positioned the fourth separately with an offer of
4.3% and 6.6% of aggregate world market of Granite and rock. This implies Egypt can be viewed as
the seventh exporter on the planet, as far as volume, after China, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Brazil.
During the process of granite manufacturing, a massive amount of water is used while cutting the granite
piles with diamond blades to cool off the process. The result is water absorbing dust and granite slurry
powder without any proper way to recycle it or getting rid of it. If the water is disposed on the ground,
the slurry powder dries, and it causes air pollution. The main issue that water use in the granite
manufacturing process is essential to cool down the blades.

MA34-1
Several researchers have worked on utilizing the use of this slurry powder byproduct in cement bricks.
One of these works was done by Hamza et al (2011) who produced cementbricks with partial
replacement of the aggregates with the slurry. The partial replacement was done for increments of 10%,
20%, 30% and 40% of the aggregates. The bricks were tested for physical and mechanical properties
and the test results revealed that the recycled products have physical and mechanical properties that
qualify them for use in the building sector, where all cement brick samples tested in this study comply
with the Egyptian code requirement for structural bricks, with granite slurry having a positive effect on
cement brick samples that reach its optimum at 10% slurry incorporation (Hamza et al, 2011).

Similarly, other researchers such as (Allam and Bakhoum, 2014), (Kumara, 2015) and (Dhanapandian
and Shanthib, 2009) did similar works to that done by Hamza et al (2011). However, none of these
researchers narrowed down the window of the study of varying the percentage slurry than increments
of 10%. Also, none of them studied the durability of the produced bricks or their performance under
axial loads in the walls. These issues are important as they will affect the decision of using such products
in various conditions of loading and in various environments.

The current research covers the variation in usage of the percentage of slurry in increments of 5% by
producing cement bricks with percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% slurry in replacement
of aggregates and tested for compressive strength. Following on that,and in lieu of the results, the
increments were reduced to 2.5% in order to get the most accurate possible percentage of slurry. Also,
the durability of the bricks was studied by immersion in salt solutions in addition to regular fresh concrete
tests. Finally, the performance of brick prisms under compression was studied.

2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

The experimental work initially involved preparing 6 mixes, by replacing fine aggregates in conventional
brick mix with slurry in different increments of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. The 0% slurry brick
and 2 other mixes, that have the highest compressive strength, were used to build 9 masonry prisms,
3 from each mix, to determine the best mix in terms of performance within a masonry wall. The
compressive results after 7 day were considered as indication for the strength after 28 days and
selecting the mixtures for the prism tests to reduce the duration of the test program and limit the number
of the produced bricks. Furthermore, two additional mixtures with 2.5% and 7.5% of slurry were
prepared in order to determine a more accurate figure for the percentage slurry corresponding to the
maximum strength.

2.1 Material Properties

The materials in the mixtures were as follows:

 Cement: Type I Portland Cement Concrete with specific gravity of 3.15.

 Fine Aggregates: Well graded sand with specific gravity of 2.55, 0.4% absorption, and a fineness
modulus of 2.85.
 Coarse Aggregates: Well graded crushed dolomite with specific gravity of 2.57 and 1.8%
absorption.
 Water: Ordinary municipal tap water was used in producing and curing process of the concrete
mixtures.
 Granite slurry: A Granite slurry powder from a plant in Alexandria was used.

2.2 Bricks Mix Design

The only variable targeted within the present study is the slurry in partial replacement of fine aggregates
while keeping all the rest of the mix constituents constant. These percentage of slurry replacement
ranged between 0% to 25 % with 5% initial increments. This range was determined in accordance to
the results published in the literature by previous researchers (Allam and Bakhoum, 2014), (Kumara,
2015), (Dhanapandian and Shanthib, 2009) and (Hamza et al, 2011) which indicated that the
percentage slurry producing the maximum compressive strength lies between 0% and 20%. However,
these researchers performed their studies for increments of 10% of slurry-to-aggregates replacement.

MA34-2
Two additional mixtures with 2.5% and 7.5% of slurry were prepared in order to determine a more
accurate figure for the percentage slurry corresponding to the maximum strength Table 1 shows the
mix design for all mixes used in the present study.

Table 1: Bricks mix design

Coarse
Cement Slurry Fine Aggregates Water
Mix Aggregates
(kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3)
(kg/m3)

0% 493 - 661 998 185

2.5% 493 17 646 998 185

5% 493 33 628 998 185

7.5% 493 50 612 998 185

10% 493 66 597 998 185

15% 493 99 564 998 185

20% 493 134 531 998 185

25% 493 165 497 998 185

2.3 Mortar Mix Design

The mix design of the mortar used in the construction of the masonry prisms consist of water, cement
and sand with a ratio 0.485: 1: 2.75 respectively. 7.5% of the sand was replaced by granite slurry.
Accordingly, after this replacement the mix ratio become 0.485: 1: 2.675: 0.206.

2.4 Tests Performed

2.4.1 Fresh tests

 Slump test: This test was conducted according to ASTM C143 to evaluate the consistency of the
fresh mix.
 Air content: The test was conducted according to ASTM C231 to identify the Air content in the
fresh concrete mix.
 Unit weight test: This test was conducted according to ASTM C138 to determine the density of
the mix.

2.4.2 Hardened Concrete/Mortar tests

 Brick Compressive Strength: The test is conducted according to ASTM 109 standards to evaluate
and determine the strength of each mix.
 Mortar cubes test: Compressive strength of each mortar mix was determine by testing 50x50x50
mm cubes according to ASTM 109 standards..
 Cycles of Immersion in Salt Solution and Drying: The bricks were weighed, after 28 days of
being casted. Then subjected to heat, at 110 ºC for 48 ±2 hrs. After that left for 4-5 hrs to cool down
and reach room temperature. After weighting the specimens again theywere immersed in a fully
saturated salt solution (sodium chloride), for 24 ±2 hrs. These cycles were repeated for 3 times,
then the bricks were weighed after each cycle.

MA34-3
2.4.3 Prism Compressive Strength

In this test, five bricks were tested as a unit as they were used to build a prism with a 10 mm layer of
mortar between each two successive bricks to form a prism as shown in Error! Reference source not
found.. Each prism had an aspect ratio of 4 between the its height and the thinnest side which was
factored according to pre-specified factors by the ASTM. This was done three times for three different
mixes having percentage slurry of 0, 5 and 10%. The load was applied to satisfy a deflection rate of 3
mm/minute in a load control loading scenario. The full record of load versus deflection was recorded
and used to plot the stress - strain curves for each specimen.

Figure 1: A prism sample during testing it under compression.

3 TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Results of Fresh Tests

Table 2 shows the results of the fresh tests. The results shown indicate variations in the unit weight
within limited ranges meaning that the powder/slurry had a limited effect on the air content and the unit
weight. This limited effect could be attributed to the fact that originally the difference between slurry and
sand (that it is partially replacing) in unit weight is minor as previously reported by (Hamza et al, 2011)
which caused the impact on the unit weight and air content to be limited. Furthermore, the low water-
to-cement ratio caused the slump to be of zero for all of the mixtures as this low water-to-cement ratio
was kept constant for all of the mixtures.

MA34-4
 Table 2: Results of Fresh Tests

Percentage Slurry Slump (mm) Air Content Unit Weight kg/m3

0% 0 8% 2090.0

5% 0 6% 1964.3

10% 0 2.8% 2300.0

15% 0 9.0% 2075.7

20% 0 7.8% 1867.1

25% 0 8.5% 1742.9

3.2 Brick Compressive Strength

The compressive strength results after 7 days for the concrete brick units with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and
20% of slurry replacement are shown in Table 3. The results indicated that the highest strength was
obtained at 5% slurry replacement. However, to determine more precise percentage mixes with 2.5%
and 5% were tested after 3 days which showed that the mix with 7.5% has the highest compressive
strength. Table 3 shows the obtained compressive strength for all mixes after 3 and 7 days

Table 3: 3-Days and 7-Days Brick Compressive Strength

Average Compressive Strength (MPs)

Slurry Percentage
After 3 days After 7 days

0% - 27.4

2.5% 19.5 -

5% 18.3 29.3

7.5% 21.0 38.5

10% 17.3 21.9

20% - 20.0

25% - 19.0

According to the results presented in Table 3, the 7.5% granite slurry replacement shows much higher
value of compressive strength when compared to its counterparts. This can indicate that granite slurry
can have a better interface with cement paste in the mix beyond purely physical micro filling action. In
addition, granite samples show high trend in terms of the degree of strength achieved after 7 days. It is
worth mentioning that 10% and 20% slurry samples showed nearly the same range of compressive
strengthswhich is consistent with the results presented previously by Hamza et al (2011). The brick was
not tested at 28 days because in real life they don’t wait 28 days for the brick, so the concern was on 3
& 7 days compressive strength.

3.3 Mortar Cubes Test

Figure shows the compressive strength of mortar cubes. The figure shows that the compressive
strength of the mortar with 7.5% slurry replacement was significantly higher than the control mortar
mixes. Therefore it is concluded that adding 7.5% granite could significantly increase the mortar
compressive strength. The 2.5 % increament was obtained at the end of the scoope because it was
important to know excatly the highest compressive strength and it was in the range between 5 % & 10
%. So , another samples was made with the increment of 2.5 % and the results is in figure 2.

MA34-5
 Ultimate load (kN)
0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0% 7.50%

Figure 2: Comparison between the ultimate compressive load carried by the control mortar sample
and the mortar sample containing 7.5% slurry

3.4 Cycles of Immersion in Salt Solution and Drying

The results of three cycles of immersion in salt solution followed by oven drying for six mixtures with
different percentage slurry are illustrated in Figure . As observed, it was found that throughout the cycles
the weight increased and this might be because the salt particles that became immersed inside the
bricks because of being fully immersed in the solution. However, this variation in weight from one cycle
to the other was not major as shown in Figure . This may be attributed to the fact that all of the mixes
had low water-cement ratios which caused the bricks to have less voids and hence a good level of
durability in general.

Figure 3: Cycles of immersion in salt solution

3.5 Prisms Test

The maximum compressive load for each prism was recorded and the average value was calculated
for each group as shown in Figure 1. It could be obviously seen that the control group (0%) failed at a
significantly lower load when compared to its counterparts including a percentage of slurry. It could also
be noticed that the 5% and 10% groups got results very near to each other.The obtained stress-strain
curves are shown in Figure 5.

MA34-6
 Figure 1: The average ultimate load carried by prisms with different percentages of slurry.

From the three stress-strain diagrams shown in Figure 2 it could be noticed that the three samples had
high variability in their results. However, when comparing all of the three control samples to the others
shown in Figure 2b and Figure 2c, it could be noticed that all of the control samples failed at stresses
lower than these withstood by the two groups that included a percentage of slurry. Meanwhile, the 5%
group shown in Figure 2b has some degree of variability that could be attributed to the human error
during constructing the prisms as it was very challenging to have exactly the same thickness of the
mortar layers between the bricks and having an ideal verticality of the prism. This same variability in
construction caused one of the 10% samples shown in Figure 2c to experience early failure as this
sample in specific failed at an angle as it was obviously not ideally vertical.

Meanwhile, when comparing the stresses shown in the stress-strain diagrams in Figure 2 to the brick
compressive strength shown in Table 3, it could be noticed that the stresses at which the prisms failed
were less than what the bricks could actually withstand. This was due to the fact that for all of the prism
samples the failure happened in the layer of mortar between the bricks and none of the samples have
experienced failure in the bricks themselves.

MA34-7
a. Stress-strain curve for the 0% (control) prism sample.

b. Stress-strain curve for the 5% slurry prism sample.

MA34-8
 c. Stress-strain curve for the 10% slurry prism sample.

Figure 2: The stress-strain curves for the prism samples.

4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Conclusions

The application of granite slurry into the bricks was investigated. Many tests were conducted to further
understand this unique material and enhance the research available on it. Four tests were conducted
and their results analyzed. Taking the materials and techniques implements into consideration, the
following can be concluded:

1. Granite slurry is a promising innovative material that has potential yet to be explored in the
construction industry.

2. Manufacturing of bricks with granite slurry contribute to both environmental as well as technical
merits as the incorporation of slurry into the bricks compute to the enhancement of mechanical
properties.

3. The fresh test results were quite similar while the slurry had a unique behavior in the slump tests
as the result was zero because the w/c ratio was very low.

4. The compressive strengthof the prisms made with brick with granite slurry replacement is more
than double the that of the conventional units.

5. It is also important to note that the granite and slurry exhibited superior performance and
advantageous qualities in the chemical durability test which means that these bricks can withstand
chemical solution at least for a short period of time.

4.2 Recommendations

For the purposes of further research, the following is recommended:

 ● Investigating mixes with different cementitious component.

 ● Investigating the thermal resistance of Granite Slurry bricks.
 ● Further research can be done in exploring the possibility of producing mortar with Granite Slurry
and exploring its physical properties and durability.

 In the application of usage of granite slurry in the industry the authors would recommend the
following:
 ● Study the possibility of producing bricks with Granite slurry on large scale in order to replace
the conventional cement bricks.
 ● As units of brick with mortar in between (prisms) have resulted in more than double the load
carrying capacity of conventional units, it is worth to apply this technology in the industry and
monitor its performance.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the efforts of the teaching assistants, lab engineers and lab
technicians in the construction engineering labs at the American University in Cairo for their extensive
help and assistance during performing the work.

References

Allam, M. E., and E. S. Bakhoum. “Re-use of granite sludge in producing green concrete.” ARPN Journal
of Engineering and Applied Sciences, vol. 9, no. 12, Dec. 2014.

MA34-9
El-Sayed, Hamdy A. “Characteristics of the marble processing powder waste at Shaq El-Thoaban
industrial area, Egypt, and its suitability for cement manufacture.” HBRC Journal, 13 June 2016.

Kumara, Virendra. “Experimental study on granite sludge blocks.” International Journal of Informative
& Futuristic research, vol. 2, no. 10, June 2015, pp. 3773–3781.

Mehta, Jitesh, and JayeshkumarPitroda. “Effective utilization of granite powder as replacement of

marble powder in marble brick.” effective utilization of granite powder as replacement of marble
powder in marble brick, vol. 2, no. 3, may 2016, doi:10.15438/rr.4.4.22.

Hamza,Rania A., Salah EL-Haggar, and SafwanKhedr, “Marble and Granite waste: Characterization
and Utilization in concrete bricks”. International Journal of bioscience, biochemistry and
bioinformatics, vol. 1, no. 4, November 2011.

DhanapandianS. and OM. Shanthib., Utilization of marble and granite wastes in brick products”, Jr. of
industrial pollution control, volume 25, issue 2, 2009, pp 145-150.

Standard Test Methods for Sampling and Testing Concrete Masonry Units and Related Units, ASTM
C140/C140M – 17a.

Standard Test Methods for Conducting Strength Tests of Masonry Wall Panels, ASTM C1717 – 12.

Standard Test Method for Compressive Strength of Masonry Prisms, ASTM C1314 – 16.

MA34-10