What is M Sand

Manufactured sand (M-Sand) is a substitute of 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.

M Sand Manufacturing Process

Rocks or quarry stones are blasted and subjected to a series of crushing cycles to reduce the particles to the size of naturally occurring sand. The produced sand is then sieved and washed to remove fine particles and impurities, and tested for various quality aspects before it is deemed fit as a construction aggregate. The size specification for manufactured sand is that it should pass completely through a 3/8 inch sieve

Why Manufactured Sand?

There are various factors that are currently driving the production of manufactured sand:

Global scarcity for natural sand: Injudicious sand mining and continuous depletion of natural aggregate sources have led to the implementation of new environmental/land use legislations which has made the procurement of natural sand difficult and expensive. Sand dredging is heavily taxed/ banned in many parts of the world.

Growing demand for fine-aggregates in construction: Nearly 65-80% of the volume of concrete and screed mixes is made up of sand/aggregates. The UK market alone requires an approximate 200 Million Tonnes of aggregates every year for various construction purposes.

Remote location of sand pits: Licensed sand pits producing the required quality of sand are often located in remote locations, leading to and high costs in transportation. Presence of silt and clay in natural sand: Natural sand is inherently high in silt and clay. It can be damaging for screed and concrete, if the sand is not sufficiently processed to bring down clay and other impurity content to acceptable levels. Reduce the wastage of low-value by-products in the quarries: The low value aggregates formed as a by-product of rock crushing can be utilized efficiently to create a high value product.

The Advantages of Manufactured Sand

More cost effective than natural sand: Manufactured sand can be produced in areas closer to construction sites, bringing down the cost of transportation and providing an assurance of consistent supply. Compliant with the new European Standards: Manufactured sand can be used as aggregates in screed and concrete mixes, as per EN13139. It can be used as a replacement or as a blended mixture with natural sand. Less disruptive to the environment: The land used for quarrying rock can be reclaimed for commercial/residential purposes or used for wetland restoration. This can help in reducing the sand mining from river beds. Lesser impurities and good working properties: Manufactured sand is free of silt and clay particles, and has denser particle packing than natural sand. It also offers higher flexural strength, better abrasion resistance, higher unit weight and lower permeability.

How to Check Quality of Sand on Site?

Quality of Sand on Site:-

Sand is one of the important constituents of concrete. The main purpose of mixing sand (fine aggregate) in concrete is to fill the voids between Coarse aggregate. And the voids between fine aggregate is filled with cement. Sand bulks the concrete and helps to increase the workability of concrete. Sand is formed by the weathering of rocks. Well, different regions use the variety of sands (Pit sand, River sand, Sea Sand) in construction according to the availability. A good fine aggregate should be well graded (all particles that have almost same size). The fine aggregate used for construction should pass 4.75mm sieve and retain on 150microns sieve. Below mentioned tests are the simple tests which you can perform quickly on site to find out the quality of Sand. These tests include checking the properties of Sand which affect the strength and the quality.

Excessive clay / Silt:-

Presence of clay in Sand makes the sand cohesive, the good quality of sand should have less percentage of clay in it. Presence of excessive clay can be determined in two ways:- For testing presence of clay in the sand, take a glassful of water and add some sand to it. Shake it vigorously and allow the sand to settle. Check whether an apparent layer is formed on the sand. A good quality of sand should have less than 8% of clay in it. Hold some dry sand and drop it. If the Sand adheres to your palm, then it has Clay