Compressive Strength, Chloride Ion Penetrability, and Carbonation Characteristic of Concrete with Mixed Slag Aggregate

Abstract

The shortage of natural aggregates has recently emerged as a serious problem owing to the tremendous growth of the concrete industry. Consequently, the social interest in identifying aggregate materials as alternatives to natural aggregates has increased. In South Korea’s growing steel industry, a large amount of steel slag is generated and discarded every year, thereby causing environmental pollution. In previous studies, steel slag, such as blast furnace slag (BFS), has been used as substitutes for concrete aggregates; however, few studies have been conducted on concrete containing both BFS and Ferronickel slag (FNS) as the fine aggregate. In this study, the compressive strength, chloride ion penetrability, and carbonation characteristic of concrete with both FNS and BFS were investigated. The mixed slag fine aggregate (MSFA) was used to replace 0, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the natural fine aggregate volume. From the test results, the highest compressive strength after 56 days was observed for the B/F100 sample. The 56 days chloride ion penetrability of the B/F75, and B/F100 samples with the MSFA contents of 75% and 100% were low level, approximately 34%, and 54% lower than that of the plain sample, respectively. In addition, the carbonation depth of the samples decreased with the increase in replacement ratio of MSFA.