Mechanical Performance and Durability Evaluation of Sandstone Concrete

Abstract

Enlarging local raw material utilization and reducing project costs is a new trend in the construction field. Under this background, sandstone was utilized in a cement-stabilized base in this study. The mineral composition of sandstone and the proportion of each mineral composition in the parent rock were analyzed using X-ray diffraction. To verify its feasibility, sandstone, syenite, marble, and basalt aggregates were selected to test the mechanical properties and road performance of the four aggregate concretes at 7, 28, 90, and 180 days. The test results showed that although the sandstone slump was the lowest at 60, the workability met the requirement. Compressive strength, tensile elasticity modulus, and axial tensile strength of concrete increased with age in all the concrete specimens, and the strength at each inspection time of sandstone was equivalent to that of marble, lower than that of basalt but higher than that of syenite. The early compressive strength of sandstone concrete is slightly lower than the compressive strength of marble concrete, and the 7 d and 28 d strengths were lower than 14% and 11%, respectively, but their 90 d and 180 d compressive strengths were the same. The crack resistance and frost resistance of sandstone were slightly inferior to those of syenite but better than those of basalt and marble. After 300 freeze-thaw cycles of the four aggregate concretes, the mass-loss rate of the test specimens was less than 5%, indicating that the frost resistance can meet the requirements. The various technical indexes of sandstone mixture could meet the current industry standards, and crack resistance, frost resistance, and fatigue resistance were good, which verified the feasibility of using sandstone for cement-stabilized base and provided a low-cost alternative for road construction.