The role of granite dust in engineered cement composites as a partial replacement of fine aggregate

Granite dust is regarded as a valuable and easy-to-obtain alternative for customary, natural fine aggregate. However, granite dust can be employed in engineered cement composites (ECC). Nevertheless, multiple health and environmental hazards are attributed to it, due to the fact that it is a non-biodegradable material. The current study, however, has considered the possibility of significantly enhancing the technical characteristics of ECC with the addition of granite dust. In order to develop this composite, sand is substituted, by weight, with granite dust portions of 5, 10, 15, and 20%. The fundamental parameter investigated in this study is the granite dust replacement percentage, while the other mixture constituents are maintained constant. The results have shown that up to 10% of replacing sand with granite dust, ECC mixes have provided greater properties, in terms of compressive strength, flexural strength, as well as bond strength than the control ECC mix. The addition of granite dust to ECC mixtures, thus, reduces the water absorption by an average of 28.8%. The results have also shown the beneficial impact of granite dust on the ECC microstructure, as there is a large reduction in the number of pores within the tested specimens. Furthermore, the incurred results indicate that granite dust can be utilized as a sand replacement material so as to produce ECCs with sufficient properties.