The The Influence of the Types of Iraqi Sands on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Foamed Concrete
Received: 16 June 2025 | Revised: 28 June 2025 | Accepted: 7 July 2025 | Online: 6 October 2025
Corresponding author: Mohammed Salih Al-Abbasi
Abstract
Recently, the use of foamed concrete has expanded significantly in Iraq due to its properties and the availability of raw materials. Since fine aggregate (sand) is one of the basic elements in the production of foamed concrete, it plays an important role in determining its properties. This study examined three types of sand (S1, S2, S3), distributed across three governorates (Karbala, Salah al-Din, and Anbar), respectively. Numerous rigorous tests were conducted on this sand to determine its physical and chemical properties. The results showed a significant improvement in the physical properties of the concrete during the test period, related to the dry density and porosity, which are related to the speed of transmission of ultrasonic waves through the concrete medium. There was also a significant improvement in mechanical properties, including compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths during the test. The results also indicate that the best type of sand was Anbar sand (S3) used in the MS3 concrete mix.
Keywords:
Foam Concrete (FC), type of sand, physical properties, mechanical propertiesDownloads
References
J. Liu, T. Ge, Y. Wu, and R. Chen, "Effect of Sand-to-Cement Ratio on Mechanical Properties of Foam Concrete," Buildings, vol. 12, no. 11, Nov. 2022, Art. no. 1969.
O. Gencel et al., "Foam Concrete Produced with Recycled Concrete Powder and Phase Change Materials," Sustainability, vol. 14, no. 12, Jun. 2022, Art. no. 7458.
Y. Liu et al., "Foam concrete for lightweight construction applications: A comprehensive review of the research development and material characteristics," Reviews on Advanced Materials Science, vol. 63, no. 1, May 2024.
R. E. Lykpanov, D. S. Dyussembinov, A. D. Altynbekova, S. B. Yenkebayev, and T. Awwad, "Assessment of the physical and mechanical characteristics of sand for the production of foam concrete using the two-stage foam injection method," Kompleksnoe Ispolzovanie Mineralnogo Syra = Complex Use of Mineral Resources, vol. 332, no. 1, pp. 5–18, Mar. 2025.
B. A. Salman and M. Z. Al-Mulali, "Production of Sustainable Foam Concrete using Foam Concrete Block Waste as Partial Cement Replacement," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 20162–20166, Feb. 2025.
S. I. Bazhenova, M. G. Bruyako, D. V. Kim, M. C. Do, and V. D. Nguyen, "Influence of blast-furnace slag on some properties of foam concrete," E3S Web of Conferences, vol. 403, 2023, Art. no. 03002.
A. M. Sulaiman, A. A. Hilal, and Z. Al-Azzawi, "Strength and Thermal Properties of Hollow Foamed Concrete Blocks considering Various Parameters," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 18004–18013, Dec. 2024.
Y. Tian, S. Shi, K. Jia, and S. Hu, "Mechanical and dynamic properties of high strength concrete modified with lightweight aggregates presaturated polymer emulsion," Construction and Building Materials, vol. 93, pp. 1151–1156, Sep. 2015.
A. Sai Krishna, R. Siempu, and G. A. V. S. Sandeep Kumar, "Study on the fresh and hardened properties of foam concrete incorporating fly ash," Materials Today: Proceedings, vol. 46, pp. 8639–8644, 2021.
H. K. K. Al-Ani, A. A. Hilal, and S. M. Hama, "Effect of Finesse and Type of Aggregate on Flowability and Mechanical Properties of Foamed Concrete," E3S Web of Conferences, vol. 427, 2023, Art. no. 02009.
S. Yanyu et al., "Influence of quartz sand on the properties of foam concrete," in International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures, Shandong, China, Jul. 2022.
A. W. Ali and N. M. Fawzi, "Production of Light Weight Foam Concrete with Sustainable Materials," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 7647–7652, Oct. 2021.
"Iraqi Standard Specification for Portland Cement", IQS No. 5/2019, Baghdad, Iraq, 2019.
"Iraqi Standard Specification for Aggregates From Natural Sources for Concrete and Buliding Construction," IQS No. 45-1980, Baghdad, Iraq, 1980.
K. C. Brady, G. R. A. Watts, and Iv. R. Jones, "Specification for foamed concrete," TRL Limited, PR/IS/40/01, May 2001.
C09 Committee, "Test Method for Foaming Agents for Use in Producing Cellular Concrete Using Preformed Foam." ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
"Iraqi Standard Specification for Water Used in Concrete," IQS No. 1703/2018, Baghdad, Iraq, 2018.
E. K. Kunhanandan Nambiar and K. Ramamurthy, "Fresh State Characteristics of Foam Concrete," Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 111–117, Feb. 2008.
M. R. Jones and A. McCarthy, "Preliminary views on the potential of foamed concrete as a structural material," Magazine of Concrete Research, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 21–31, Feb. 2005.
"Testing hardened concrete - Density of hardened concrete," BS EN 12390-7:2019, 2019.
"Testing concrete in structures - Determination of ultrasonic pulse velocity," BS EN 12504-4:2021, 2021.
"Testing hardened concrete - Compressive strength of test specimens," BS EN 12390-3:2019, 2019.
"Testing hardened concrete - Tensile splitting strength of test specimens," BS EN 12390-6:2023, 2023.
"Testing hardened concrete - Flexural strength of test specimens," BS EN 12390-5:2019, 2019.
T. A. Mahmood, A. A. Hilal, and I. Al-Jumaili, "Effect of Sand Replacement by Silica Sand on Strength of Fibers Reinforced Foamed Concrete," in 2018 11th International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering (DeSE), Cambridge, UK, Sep. 2018, pp. 324–329.
Downloads
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Mohammed Salih Al-Abbasi, Mohammed Zuhear Al-Mulali
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after its publication in ETASR with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
