Time Dependent Effect Of Temperature On The Compressive Strength of Concrete Made With Partially Replaced Recycled Slag As Fine Aggregate

Abstract

Conventionally, stone and sand are considered the coarse and fine aggregates of concrete; however, any manufactured inert material can also be used as the aggregates. These conventional aggregates, such as stone and sand, are usually collected from natural sources. As continued extraction of stone and sand from natural sources results in an imbalance in the natural ingredients and affects the environment adversely, the recent advancement of using waste materials as aggregates in concrete production has gained momentum to create a greener environment. This study focuses on the applicability of iron slag (a by-product of steel production) as a replacement for conventional fine aggregate in concrete production. Primarily, physical properties of iron slag, such as grain size distribution, dry density, specific gravity, and absorption capacity values, were measured. Then this iron slag sample was mixed with the sand at different doses (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% of total fine aggregate). To observe the effect of this blended fine aggregate (a mixture of iron slag and sand), concrete cylindrical specimens were produced with the mixing ratio of cement fine aggregate and coarse aggregate to be 1:1.5:2.5 and tested under compression up to failure. It was found that the different doses of iron slag and sand yielded increased compressive strength values of the concrete compared to a batch where only sand was used as fine aggregate. It was also found that the different doses of iron slag and sand yielded similar compressive strength values after heating compared to a batch where only sand was used as fine aggregate. Therefore, it is expected that the iron slag has merits to be used alone or in conjunction with sand as fine aggregate in producing concrete