Characteristics and Utilization of Steel Slag in Road Construction

Abstract

Presently, the rate of utilization of steel slag in Malaysia is rather too low compared to some advanced countries. Many studies focused on the better way to increase the usage of industrial by-products in order to ease disposal problems. Enormous quantities of steel slag were deposited in yards, causing environmental pollution. Like other metallurgical slags, steel slags exhibit a great potential to be used as aggregate in highway construction. The assessment and evaluation of this material should be based on environmental, economic and technical factors before it can be used in road construction. In terms of technical perspective, steel slags must met the required test requirements that are needed for natural aggregates used for similar purposes. The degree of slag utilization needs to be improved as an important measure to these problems. The physical and chemical properties of slag were reviewed and the various areas of its applications are highlighted. The principal setback of its use; volumetric instability which results from hydratable oxides can be checkmated through appropriate methods like aging and steam test. In order to sustain its uses, microstructure analysis that can identify any harmful materials present in it is suggested. There is also an urgent need of standard methods to assess its suitability as highway construction material.