With the acceleration of urbanization, the demand for construction sand is increasing rapidly. The depletion of natural sand has led many countries to strictly supervise and even prohibit the use of river sand and sea sand, so people have begun to use artificial sand. This article will give you an analysis on topics that everyone cares about, such as the characteristics, processing technology, and development trends of artificial sand.

Question 1: What kind of sand can be called artificial sand?

There is no official definition of artificial sand. In fact, there is not even a unified name. Therefore, the product is also called broken sand and artificial sand. Artificial sand is named because of its production process. Another way is to define it according to the particle size distribution and maximum particle size. This depends on local technical specifications, but in general, the particle size of artificial sand should be less than 5mm.

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

Two main characteristics affect the quality of artificial sand.

1. The quality of sand needs to meet the end-use. To ensure this, we have to look at indicators such as gradation curve and particle shape. The gradation curve indicates how many materials belong to a certain size level, and the shape measurement is carried out by studying the aspect ratio of a single particle and determining the percentage of (material shape) out-of-specification materials. Usually, the flow cone device is also used to indirectly measure the quality of the sand, to obtain the fluidity and porosity% of the sand.

2. We can adjust the crusher and vibrating screen to ensure that the grading requirements are met. When designing and selling artificial sand production schemes, we must also consider the sand demand of end-users.

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

Wet processing requires water, and the water consumption is quite large. For some factories, obtaining large amounts of water is a challenge. However, if the material itself has a higher moisture content, it is necessary to choose wet production. Another reason for using wet equipment is that the material may contain some impurities, such as clay, etc., which will reduce the quality characteristics of the concrete, but in most cases, these impurities can be well removed by washing.

If you design the processing technology of dry materials, you can use dry screening and air classification equipment for fine powder classification. The advantage of dry processing is that it does not require water and can better control ultra-fine powder. At the same time, the superfine powder can also be collected in the silo for later use when needed. This process is not easy to use wet processing to complete.

Question 4: Is there a new development trend for artificial sand in the future?

Population growth requires more infrastructure, and the consumption of concrete is huge when building bridges, buildings, and new roads. Therefore, the market has increased the demand for sand, the main component of concrete. When there is not enough natural sand available in these areas, one option is to transport natural sand from more distant areas, but this is not an economic solution.

Concrete sand is a bulk material, so the price is not very high. More and more countries restrict the exploitation of natural sand. Artificial sand is a reasonable substitute for natural sand, so its consumption is increasing rapidly. In rapidly urbanizing developing countries, the demand for artificial sand is higher, but we can see that the demand for artificial sand is also increasing in countries where the mining of natural sand is banned by legislation.