Chemically functionalized manufactured sand as the novel additive for enhancing the properties of cement-based composites.

The extensive applications of manufactured sand (AS) in cement-based composites were restricted because of its coarse surface texture, poor gradation and inevitable agglomeration. In this paper, a specifically designed polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE) decorated manufactured sand (AS-PCE) composite was synthesized radical polymerization. The AS-PCE composite was characterized by FTIR, TGA, XPS and SEM.