AGGREGATE

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1 Sipil 1 Pagi Jurusan Teknik Sipil Politeknik Negeri Jakarta 2011

AGGREGATE
People have used sand and stone for foundations for thousands of years. The invention of concrete, which was essential to architecture utilizing arches, created an immediate, permanent demand for construction aggregates. And from time to time, aggregates demand for civil engineering construction increases really fast. Construction aggregate, or simply aggregate, is a broad category of coarse particulate material used in construction, including sand,gravel, crushed stone, slag, and recycled concrete. Aggregate can also be mixed with a binder - either cement to make concrete or tar to make asphalt - and used in the manufacture of houses, structures and bridges. The functions of aggregate in usage of concrete are to reduce cement content, to generate large strength on the concrete, to reduce shrinkage in concrete, and to produce a dense concrete. The classifications of aggregate based on shape are rounded, irreguler, angular, flaky, cubical, elongated, porous. And based on spesific gravity, aggregate divided into 3 types. Normal weight aggregate, light weight aggregate, and heavy aggregate. Normal weight aggregate have a specific gravity of 2.50 to 2.70. Concrete with normal aggregate will have a density of about 2.3 with compressive strength 15 Mpa- 40 Mpa. Besides light weight aggregate have a specific gravity less than 2.0 usually used to make light weigt concrete. And heavy aggregate have a specific gravity more than 2.8, usually used for concrete exposed to X-ray radiation. The largest maximum size of aggregate is 80 mm that could be conveniently used for concrete making. Aggregate devided into two categories from the consideration of size,coarse aggregate and fine aggregate. The size of coarse aggregate is bigger than 4,75 mm. Besides the size of fine aggregate is 4,75mm and less 4,75mm. The classifications of aggregate based on surface texture are glassy (black flint), smooth (chert, slate, marble, some rhyolite), granular (sandstone,oolites), crystaline (fine, basalt, trachyte, medium, dolorite), honeycombed and porous (scoriae, pumice, trass).

Gradation of aggregate is arrangement of several grain size that form an aggregate mixture consist of aggregate fraction.The types of aggregate gradation are well graded and poor graded. Well Graded is a mixture aggregate with grain size uniformly in the range of grain sizes. it is also called close graded aggregate.

Besides, poor graded is the distribution of aggregate size that do not qualify into well graded. Water content of aggregate is the amount of water contained in aggregate. In general, there are four aggregate moisture conditions: 1. Oven-dry (OD). All moisture is removed by heating the aggregate in an oven at 105oC (221oF) to constant weight (this usually constitutes heating it overnight). All pores connected to the surface are empty and the aggregate is fully absorbent. 2. Air-dry (AD). All moisture is removed from the surface, but pores connected to the surface are partially filled with water. The aggregate is somewhat absorbent. 3. Saturated surface dry (SSD). All pores connected to the surface are filled with water, but the surface is dry. The aggregate is neither absorbent nor does it contribute water to the concrete mixture. 4. Wet. All pores connected to the surface are filled with water and there is excess moisture on the surface. The aggregate contributes water to the concrete mixture. Water absorption is the ability of aggregate to absorb water until the saturated conditions. Aggregate water absorption is the amount of water contained in the aggregate, calculated from oven dry to saturated conditions, and expressed in %. Aggregate makes up 70 to 80 percent of the volume of concrete and aggregate used in asphalt mixtures (roadways - hot mix asphalt, cold mix asphalt, surface treatments) comprise approximately 95 percent of the mix by mass. Thus, all roads, sidewalks, buildings, structures, and anything made from concrete require aggregates. It means that we need to pay attention to aggregate, because it really affects the quality of the concrete. Sources:
http://www.gravelbc.ca/aggregate/whatisaggregate.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_aggregate http://pavementinteractive.org/index.php?title=Moisture_Content