Physico-chemical properties of alkali activated slag pastes

Abstract EN

Granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) is by-product of the metallurgical industry and consists mainly of lime and calcium-magnesium aluminosilicates that defined as the glassy granular material formed by rapid water cooling of molten slag resulting in amorphous structure and converts the molten slag into fine sized aggregate particles (smaller than 4 mm).

Alkali-activated slag (AAS) binders have taken a great interest from researchers due to its manufacturing process which has important benefits from the point of view of the lower energy requirements and lower emission of greenhouses gases with respect to the manufacturing of Portland cement.

The present work aims to study the activation of granulated slag with 6 % of alkali mixture by weight of granulated slag composed of 1 : 1 and 5 : 1 sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate of, respectively.

The effect of sea water as mixing water and curing medium under tap water as well as in humidity up to 90 days was studied.

In this paper, the physico-chemical properties of alkali activated slag pastes were studied.

The results indicated that the activated pastes mixed with sea water and cured in humidity give high combined water, bulk density and compressive strength than those cured under tap water from 3 up to 90 days.

The identification of activated pastes was also investigated by IR spectroscopy.