Characteristic Study of Polycarboxylate Ether Sand as a Potential Substitute for Natural River Sand in the Construction Industry

The extreme demand for aggregate leads to the exploitation of riverbeds for fine aggregates, affecting the environment adversely. Therefore, a suitable alternative to natural river sand is essentially required. This study focuses on preventing environmental impact by developing polycarboxylate ether (PCE) sand to replace natural river sand (NRS). Development of polycarboxylate ether (PCE) sand by mixing high-volume fly ash, bottom ash, cement, natural river sand, and locally purchased high-solid-content polycarboxylate ether–based superplasticizer (HSPCE). All the physical and chemical properties of PCE sand were observed and satisfied the requirement of current standards. PCE sand yields a good specific gravity of 2.31 and is classified as Zone I sand with a satisfactory friction angle (37°) compared with NRS and geopolymer fly ash sand (GFS). Although the water absorption (6.83%) and pH (12.18) are slightly more than those of GFS and NRS, the alkali silica reaction and soundness are well within the permissible limit as per Indian standards. The chemical analysis by X-ray fluorescence showed the presence of high amounts of ${\mathrm{SiO}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ with magnitudes of 58.879%, and 26.77%, respectively. Finally, the compressive strength of M25 grade concrete using PCE sand and GFS was observed to be 87.51% and 83.82% with respect to NRS after 28 days, respectively. The results of this study indicate that PCE sand can be a good alternative to NRS for construction work because it not only reduces the environmental effect due to sand mining but also focuses on utilizing fly ash and bottom ash.