Concrete properties comparison when substituting a 25% cement with slag from different provenances

Abstract

Concrete consumption greatly exceeds the use of any other material in engineering. This is due to its good properties as a construction material and the availability of its components. Nevertheless, the present worldwide construction increases and the high-energy consumption for cement production means a high environmental impact. On the other hand, one of the main problems in the iron and steel industry is waste generation and byproducts that must be properly processed or reused to promote environmental sustainability. One of these byproducts is steel slag. The cement substitution with slag strategy achieves two goals: raw materials consumption reduction and waste management. In the present work, four different concrete mixtures are evaluated. The 25% cement substitution is carried out with different types of slag. Tests were made to evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of each mixture. Depending on the origin, characteristics, and treatment of the slag, the concrete properties changed. Certain mixtures provided proper concrete properties. Stainless steel slag produced a fluent mortar that reduced water consumption with a slight mechanical strength loss. Mixtures with ground granulated blast furnace slag properties are better than the reference concrete (without slag).