Filler from crushed aggregate for concrete: Pore structure, specific surface, particle shape and size distribution

Published

April 8, 2014

Author(s)

Edward Garboczi, Rolands Cepuritis, Borge Wigum, Ernst Mortsell, Stefan Jacobsen

Abstract

Characteristics of fine particles (fines, 0 μm to 125 μm) from seven different crushed and natural sands from five different Norwegian rock types were determined. The results suggest that the same water absorption values, as determined by EN 1097-6 on coarser sand fractions, can be applied to the fines. The values of specific surface area measurements vary widely between different materials and measurement methods. BET measurements seem to be strongly affected by the mineralogical composition (presence of mica) and surface morphology (weathering) of the particles. Specific surface area calculated from the particle size distributions (PSD) is mainly dependent on the precision of the test methods in the size range below about 3 µm to 5 µm. Shape measurements by both dynamic image analysis (DIA), which is a 2D method, and X-ray microcomputed tomography (µCT), which is a 3D method, have been demonstrated to be able to yield similar relative length-to-thickness aspect ratios of the particles between different mineralogies, though with lower absolute values for DIA due to 2D projection of 3D quantities. The length to thickness (L/T) ratio, as calculated by DIA via the minimum and maximum Feret's diameter, seemed to correlate with the length to width ratio (L/W) as measured by µCT, rather than the equivalent 3D L/T ratio.

Citation

Cement and Concrete Composites

Volume

54

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2014.03.010

Local Download

Keywords

Crushed aggregate fines, Pore structure, water absorption, specific surface area, size distribution, shape distribution

Citation

Garboczi, E. , Cepuritis, R. , Wigum, B. , Mortsell, E. and Jacobsen, S. (2014), Filler from crushed aggregate for concrete: Pore structure, specific surface, particle shape and size distribution, Cement and Concrete Composites, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2014.03.010, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=915107 (Accessed October 21, 2025)