Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely ground rock and mineral particles. It is a popular manufacturing material used across a broad spectrum of construction, glass, and transportation industries.

  USES:- 

• Abrasion: Before sandpaper, wet sand was used as an abrasive element between rotating devices with elastic surface and hard materials such as very hard stone (making of stone vases), or metal (removal of old stain before re-staining copper cooking pots).

• Agriculture: Sandy soils are ideal for crops such as watermelons, peaches, and peanuts, and their excellent drainage characteristics make them suitable for intensive dairy farming. 

• Air filtration: Finer sand particles mixed with cloth was commonly used in certain gas mask filter designs but have largely been replaced by microfibers. 

• Aquaria: Sand makes a low-cost aquarium base material which some belief is better than gravel for home use. It is also a necessity for saltwater reef tanks, which emulate environments composed largely of aragonite sand broken down from coral and shellfish. 

• Artificial islands in the Persian Gulf. 

• Brick: Manufacturing plants add sand to a mixture of clay and other materials for manufacturing bricks.

• Concrete: Sand is often a principal component of this critical construction material. 

• Glass: Sand rich in silica is the principal component in common glasses. 

• Hydraulic fracturing: A drilling technique for natural gas, which uses rounded silica sand as a "proppant", a material to hold open cracks that are caused by the hydraulic fracturing process. 

• Landscaping: Sand makes small hills and slopes (golf courses would be an example). 

• Mortar: Sand is mixed with masonry cement or Portland cement and lime to be used in masonry construction. 

• Paint: Mixing sand with paint produces a textured finish for walls and ceilings or non-slip floor surfaces. 

• Roads: Sand improves traction (and thus traffic safety) in icy or snowy conditions. 

• Sand animation: Performance artists draw images in sand. Makers of animated films use the same term to describe their use of sand on frontlit or backlit glass. 

• Sandbags: These protect against floods and gunfire. The inexpensive bags are easy to transport when empty, and unskilled volunteers can quickly fill them with local sand in emergencies. 

• Sandblasting: Graded sand serves as an abrasive in cleaning, preparing, and polishing. 

• Water filtration: Media filters use sand for filtering water. It is also commonly used by many water treatment facilities, often in the form of rapid sand filters.

Types of sand 

     1. River sand or Natural Sand 

     2. M sand

     3. Pit sand 

     4. Concrete sand 

     5. Utility sand 

     6. Filling sand 

     1) River sand:- River Sand is usually obtained from River Beds and Banks. It is usually very fine in quality and has a white-grey colour. River Sand is good for all construction activities like concrete production and plastering as it is well graded. As per the Indian Standard codes, sand used in the preparation of concrete and in plastering should ideally confirm to IS-383 Zone-II. Refer to the table to understand how Zone classification is given for sand

2) M-sand:- Manufactured sand (M-Sand) is a substitute for river sand for concrete construction. Manufactured sand is produced from hard granite stone by crushing. The crushed sand is of cubical shape with grounded edges, washed and graded to as a construction material. The size of manufactured sand (M-Sand) is less than 4.75mm. Manufactured sand is an alternative to river sand. Due to the fast-growing construction industry, the demand for sand has increased tremendously, causing a deficiency of suitable river sand in most part of the word. Since manufactured sand can be crushed from hard granite rocks, it can be readily available at the nearby place, reducing the cost of transportation from far-off river sand bed. 

Advantages of Manufactured Sand (M-Sand) 

• It is well graded in the required proportion. 

• It does not contain an organic and soluble compound that affects the setting time and properties of cement, thus the required strength of concrete can be maintained.

• It does not have the presence of impurities such as clay, dust and silt coatings, which increases water requirement as in the case of river sand which impair the bond between cement paste and aggregate. Thus, increased the quality and durability of concrete. 

• M-Sand is obtained from specific hard rock (granite) using state-of-the-art International technology, thus the required property of sand is obtained. 

• M-Sand is cubical in shape and is manufactured using technology like High Carbon steel hit a rock and then ROCK ON ROCK process which is synonymous to that of natural process undergoing in river sand information. 

• Modern and imported machines are used to produce M-Sand to ensure the required grading zone for the sand. 

Properties of Manufactured Sand for Concrete Construction Higher Strength of concrete The manufactured sand has required gradation of fines, physical properties such as shape, smooth surface textures and consistency which makes it the best sand suitable for construction. These physical properties of sand provide greater strength to the concrete by reducing segregation, bleeding, honeycombing, voids and capillary. Thus required grade of sand for the given purpose helps the concrete fill voids between coarse aggregates and makes concrete more compact and dense, thus increasing the strength of concrete. Durability of concrete Since manufactured sand (M-Sand) is processed from selected quality of granite, it has balanced physical and chemical properties for the construction of concrete structures. This property of M-Sand helps the concrete structures withstand extreme environmental conditions and prevents the corrosion of reinforcement steel by reducing permeability, moisture ingress, the freeze-thaw effect increasing the durability of concrete structures. Workability of concrete Size, shape, texture play an important role in the workability of concrete. With more surface area of sand, the demand for cement and water increases to bond the sand with coarse aggregates. The control over these physical properties of manufacturing sand makes the concrete require less amount of water and provide higher workable concrete. The less use of water also helps in increasing the strength of concrete, less effort for mixing and placement of concrete, and thus increases the productivity of construction activities at the site. Fewer Construction Defects Construction defects during placement and post-concreting such as segregation, bleeding, honeycombing, voids and capillarity in concrete get reduced by the use of M-Sand as it has optimum initial and final setting time as well as excellent fineness. Economy As discussed above, since the usage of M-Sand has increased durability, higher strength, reduction in segregation, permeability, increased workability, decreased post-concrete defects, it proves to be economical as a construction material replacing river sand. It can also save transportation cost of river sand in many cases. Eco-Friendly Usage of manufactured sand prevents dredging of river beds to get river sand which may lead to environmental disaster like groundwater depletion, water scarcity, the threat to the safety of bridges, dams etc. to make M-Sands more eco-friendly than river sand.

3) Pit sand:  Pit sand is extracted from Deep pits dug underneath the ground. It usually have a coarser grain size. It is not recommended in construction activities as the particle size is too large.

4) Concrete sand:  Concrete sand is one of the types of sand in India that is made from crushed concrete. It is a common component that is cement and asphalt mixture. This sand crushed into the quarry and filtered to remove bigger rocks and huge material. The size and texture of this sand provide the fundamental stability of the building.

Used 

1) It is a type of coarse sand than can be mixed with cement and water and used as levelling base layers and walking path. 

 2) It is smaller grained when compared to crushed stone sand and hence can be used to construct softer pavement. 

 5) Utility Sand: This type of sand produced from industrial quartz of high quality. This type of construction sand provides excellent compaction and mechanical properties due to its uniform grain shapes. It can be in corrosive environments since they are non-reactive. They are 100 % natural minerals that provide excellent durability and stability to the building. 

 6) Filling Sand: The filling sand is types of sand used in construction mainly for filling. It is a combination of many grains of sand and aggregates.