Natural or River sand are weathered and worn out particles of rocks and are of various grades or sizes
depending upon the amount of wearing. Now-a-days good sand is not readily available, it is
transported from a long distance. Those resources are also exhausting very rapidly. So it is a need of
the time to find some substitute to natural river sand.

M sand is artificial sand produced by proper machines can be a better substitute to river sand. The sand must be of proper gradation (it should have particles from 150 microns to 4.75 mm in proper
proportion).

When fine particles are in proper proportion, the sand will have fewer voids. The cement quantity
required will be less. Such sand will be more economical. Demand for manufactured fine aggregates
for making concrete is increasing day by day as river sand cannot meet the rising demand of
construction sector. Natural river sand takes millions of years to form and is not repleneshible.
Because of its limited supply, the cost of Natural River sand has sky rocketed and its consistent supply
cannot be guaranteed. Under this circumstances use of manufactured sand becomes inevitable.
River sand in many parts of the country is not graded properly and has excessive silt and organic
impurities and these can be detrimental to durability of steel in concrete whereas manufactured sand
has no silt or organic impurities

Issues with River Sand

1. The Civil engineers, Architects, Builders, and Contractors agree that the river sand, which is
available today, is deficient in many respect. It does content very high silt fine particles (as in
case of Filter sand).
2. Presence of other impurities such as coal, bones, shells, mica and silt etc makes it inferior for
the use in cement concrete. The decay of these materials, due to weathering effect, shortens
the life of the concrete.
3. Now-a-days, the Government have put ban on lifting sand from River bed.
4. Transportation of sand damages the roads.
5. Removing sand from river bed impact the environment, as water table goes deeper &
ultimately dry.

General Requirements of Manufactured Sand (M Sand)

1. All the sand particles should have higher crushing strength.
2. The surface texture of the particles should be smooth.
3. The edges of the particles should be grounded.
4. The ratio of fines below 600 microns in sand should not be less than 30%.
5. There should not be any organic impurities
6. Silt in sand should not be more than 2%, for crushed sand.
7. In manufactured sand the permissible limit of fines below 75 microns shall not exceed 15%.