Abstract

Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag is being used increasingly as a replacement of portland cement in concrete. A review of literature and results from experimentation show that alkaline activators have selectivity; that is, different activators have variable activation effects on slags from different origins. Analysis of hydration chemistry indicates that the selectivity results from the variation of hydration products and microstructure from different combinations of slag and activator. Selectivity of activators suggests that strength of a blast-furnace slag with NaOH solution (ASTM C 1073) is better used as an internal quality control index rather than a quality evaluation index. To improve the sensitivity of the quality control test, the alkali may be selected based on an activator-optimization testing rather than specifying an alkali.

Issue Section:
Research Papers
Keywords:
blast-furnace slag, hydraulic activity test, hydration chemistry, alkaline activation

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