Sulfuric acid resistance of quartz sandstone aggregate concrete

Sandstone is a popular type of natural stone and is made up of collective grains of quartz. India is one of the countries blessed with various types of sandstones with appealing colors. Demand for Indian sandstones has increased in the international market and they are being exported to many countries like United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Since Indian sandstones possess impressive qualities to durability, strength, and resistance to abrasion, they are being used in roofing, paving, flooring, aesthetic pillars, and stone carving. Quartz sandstone is a type where the elemental framework of sandstone is dominated by quartz and may contain a small amount of clay in the form of muscovite. Since the clay content in a quartz sandstone is much lower, they can be used as an effective replacement for conventional coarse aggregates in the production of cement concrete. In this paper, quartz sandstones coarse aggregates have been utilized as a substitute of conventional coarse aggregates and its response to sulfuric acid has been studied. It can be concluded that concrete with quartz sandstone aggregates up to 40% replacement showed better resistance to sulfuric acid exposure.