AGGREGATES
coarse or fine according to its blast furnace slag, or other approved
WHAT IS AGGREGATES?
 material derived from natural rocks.
 Can also be the by-product of
manufacturing processes of other
materials
 Constitute 70% to 85% by weight of
Portland cement concrete (PCC) and
hot-mix asphalt (HMA) and 60% to 75%
by volume of the same materials.
 Physical, chemical and mechanical
properties of aggregates: fundamental in
the performance of pavements.
SOIL GROUPS AND ITS IDENTIFICATION
1. Granular Soils - individual particles are
visible to naked eyes and it is non-
plastic such as gravel and sand.
 Gravel – from 75 mm (3”) to 2.0
mm (#10)
 Sand - from 2.0 mm (#10) to
0.075 mm (#200)
2. Fined-Grained - individual particles are
quite visible to naked eye such as clay
and silt. Clay is plastic when wet and
easily crumbles when dry. Silt is
slightly plastic.
 Silt - from 0.075 mm to 0.002
mm
 Clay – from 0.002 mm to 0.001
mm
 Colloids – less than 0.001 mm
2-AGGREGATE TYPES AND
CLASSIFICATIONS
 Classification based on source
 Classification based on size
o Aggregates are classified as
size.
o The size separating them depends
on the application:
FINE AGGREGATES
• It shall consist of natural sand, stone
screenings or other inert materials with
similar characteristics, or combinations,
thereof, having hard, strong and durable
particles.
• It shall not contain more than three (3)
mass percent of material passing the
0.075 mm (No. 200 sieve) by washing
nor more than one (1) mass percent
each of clay lumps or shale.
PACKING
 Depends on mixing particle sizes
o For aggregate, cement and
pozzolan in concrete
o For Suitcases
o For Car Trunks
o For Moving Vans
GAP-GRADED
WELL-GRADED
Fine Aggregates
• When subjected to five (5) cycles of the
sodium sulfate soundness test the
weighted loss shall not exceed 10 mass
percent.
• When tested for the effect of organic
impurities of strength of mortar by
AASHTO T 71, the fine aggregates may
be used if the relative strength at 7 and
28 days is not less than 95 mass
percent.
COARSE AGGREGATES
• It shall consist of crushed stone, gravel,
inert materials of similar characteristics
or combinations thereof, having hard,
strong, durable pieces and free from any
adherent coatings.
• It shall contain not more than one (1)
mass percent of materials passing the
0.075 mm (No. 200 Sieve), nor more
than 0.25 mass percent of clay lumps,
nor more than 3.5 mass percent of soft
fragments.
• If subjected to five (5) cycles of the
sodium sulfate soundness test, the
weighted loss shall not exceed 12 mass
percent.
• It shall have a mass percent of wear not
exceeding 40 when tested by AASHTO
T 96.
SAMPLING OF AGGREGATES
- Sampling is equally as important as the
testing and the sampler shall use every
precaution to obtain samples that will
show the nature and condition of the
materials which they actually represent.
CONCRETE AGGREGATE MATERIALS
TESTS
1. MOISTURE CONTENT
 by laboratory definition, moisture
content is the ratio of the weight / mass
of water in the soil to the weight / mass
of the dry soil after it has been dried to a
constant weight at a temperature of 110
± 5 °C.
 therefore, moisture content is an
important characteristic by which the
behavior of soil is markedly influenced
by the amount of moisture it contains.
2. PARTICLE SIZE / SIEVE ANALYSIS
 is the determination of particle size
distribution in soils by sieve, hydrometer
or a combined analysis where the
 method which should be used depends
on the size of the soil grains.
 Particle size distribution on soils and
aggregates is widely used in the
classification and identification of soil
and it is an important criterion in the
classification of highway subgrade
materials.
 The larger the particles of gradation are
load bearing and the fine particles bind
the coarser ones to prevent movement
between them. The gradation of soil
aggregate material is very important to
achieve maximum contact between
particles and maximum water tightness.
SIGNIFICANCE OF AGGREGATE GRADING
 Aggregates having a smooth grading
curve and neither a deficiency nor
excess of any one particle size will
generally produce mixtures with fewer
voids between particles.
 to avoid higher void content
 to determine surface area needed to
pasted, if the surface area increases,
more cement paste is needed to coat
the additional surface, otherwise the
concrete would be too stiff.
FINENESS MODULUS
 Fineness Modulus is a term used as an
index to the fineness or coarseness of
aggregate.  UNIT WEIGHT / MASS DETERMINATION
 Fineness Modulus of Sand Affects
Compressive and flexural strength of
Concrete. Sand, with higher FM, results
in higher strength of concrete. It is
evident by cost benefit ratio that overall
concrete mix is becoming economical if
we use sand with higher FM. The results
indicate that with the increase in FM,
workability gets affected considerably.
 AASTHO Designation: M6-93 (Standard
Specification for Fine Aggregate for
Portland Cement Concrete)- It indicates
that the fineness modulus of sand - It is also used for mass / volume
should not be less than 2.3 and not relationships for conversions in
more than 3.1. purchase agreements and for annual
 sum of the cumulative percentage inventory control and verification.
retained on sieves with 9.5mm,
4.75mm, 2.36mm, 1.18mm, 0.60mm,
0.30mm, 0.15mm opening.
SPECIFIC GRAVITY / ABSORPTION
- Bulk Specific Gravity is generally used
for the calculation of the volume that the
aggregate will occupy in various
mixtures containing aggregate. These
are the Portland Cement Concrete,
Bituminous Concrete, and other
mixtures that are proportioned or
analyzed on an absolute volume
analysis.
- The test sample for this test is washed
and oven-dried @110 ± 5 C.
- Absorption values are used to calculate
the change of weight of an aggregate
due to water absorbed in the pore
spaces. The higher the Absorption, the
lower the Specific Gravity and vice
versa.
- High value of Absorption indicates poor
quality of aggregate.
- Unit weight / mass determination are
used to determine the bulk density
values used in selecting proportions for
concrete mixes.
- For the purpose of mixture
proportioning, it is important to know the
space occupied by the aggregate
particles, including the pores (voids)
within the particles.