Effect of Steel Slag as a Partial Replacement Fine Aggregate Adding Superplasticizer

Abstract

Steel slag is a byproduct which can be obtained from steel industry and generated as a waste during the production of steel. Besides, it has been declared a useful construction material, not an industrial waste by most of the developed countries. However, in Malaysia, the rate of utilization of steel slag is very low compared to others develop countries. In this paper aims to study experimentally, the effect of steel slag partial replacement of fine aggregates adding superplasticizer in concrete is investigated. For this purpose, tested samples include 150 mm concrete cubes, cylinder samples with 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height respectively are prepared and mix with superplasticizer namely Sika Visco Crete(VC 2192). Compressive strength, split tensile strength, workability and ultrasonic pulse velocity of concrete replacement of fine aggregate by steel slag aggregate are examined compared with control mix design without replacement of steel slag aggregate. The optimum percentage of replacement of fine and coarse aggregate by steel slag is found. Workability of concrete gradually increases, as the percentage of replacement increases yet when beyond 20% of replacement start to decrease, which is found using slump test. Moreover, compressive strength, tensile strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity are experimentally investigated. The results point out that for conventional concrete, the partial replacement of fine aggregates by steel slag improves the compressive, ultrasonic pulse velocity and tensile strength. In a nutshell, the result obtained for concrete mixes with 15% steel slag fine aggregate and at 28 days established that these mixes are good for production of high strength concrete.