4 major problems of machine-made sand

The demand for manufactured sand is increasing day by day. Regarding the characteristics of machine-made sand, processing technology, development trends, and other topics that everyone cares about, we listen to the opinions of machine-made sand experts.

Question 1: Is there a regulation on what kind of sand can be called machine-made sand?

Machine-made sand is also known as crushed, artificial, and M sand. Machine-made sand is named for its production process, another way is to define it in terms of particle size distribution and maximum particle size. It depends on local technical specifications, but in general, the particle size of manufactured sand should be less than 5mm.

Question 2: What are the characteristics of high-quality machine-made sand?

Two main characteristics affect the quality of manufactured sand. First, the quality of the sand needs to meet the end-use. To ensure this, we look at metrics such as gradation curves and particle shape. Gradation curves indicate how much material belongs to a certain particle size class, and shape is measured by studying the aspect ratio of individual particles and determining (shape) the percentage of oversized material. The quality of the sand is also measured indirectly with a flow cone device to obtain the fluidity and porosity of the sand.

We can then adjust the crusher and shaker to ensure graduation requirements are met. When designing and selling the production plan of machine-made sand, we also consider the sand needs of end-users. In addition, the material cannot be active rock, otherwise, it will cause concrete cracking, resulting in corrosion of steel bars and loss of strength properties of concrete, thus shortening the service life of concrete structures.

Question 3: What is the difference between wet processing and dry processing of manufactured sand?

Wet processing requires water, and it uses a considerable amount of water. If the material itself has a high moisture content, it is necessary to choose wet production. Another reason to use wet equipment is that the material may contain some impurities, such as clay, etc., which can reduce the quality characteristics of the concrete, but in most cases, these impurities can be removed well by washing.

If the processing technology of dry materials is designed, equipment such as dry screening and air classification can be used for fine powder classification. The benefit of dry processing is that it does not require water and provides better control of ultrafine. At the same time, the ultrafine powder can also be collected into a silo for later use when needed. This process is not easily accomplished using wet processing.

Machine-made sand is a reasonable substitute for natural sand, so its consumption is growing rapidly. If you want to know more about machine-made sand, you can leave a message to us.