Construction aggregates are granulated construction materials included in mortars and concretes, building materials, tar mixtures for road construction, road surface layers, filtration layers, drainage facilities, etc.\u00a0Aggregate makes approx. 70% of the entire concrete volume and exerts significant effects on the formation of the concrete mixture, and later of hardened concrete features, including construction materials. Aggregates intended for concrete production should be frost-resistant and characterised by appropriate humidity and absorbability. Aggregate properties are decisive for the parameters of the obtained concrete mixture.
\nBroadly speaking, construction aggregates are divided into natural and artificial. It should, however, be emphasised that both the former and the latter are mineral in origin, where natural aggregates are used in construction applications in their natural form, i.e. as in nature, and in processed forms, either after mechanical processing (crushed aggregates) or sorting procedures (fractionated aggregates). By contrast, artificial aggregates are either the result of intended production processes, or products manufactured from industrial waste. Separate aggregate types include those used in road construction and railway track construction applications – in fact, they are also construction aggregates.<\/p>\n