Open Access

ARTICLE

Efficient Use of Steel Slag in Alkali-Activated Blast Furnace Slag Based Geopolymer

Yu Bai, Lei Wang, Ying Fang^*

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

* Corresponding Author: Ying Fang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: New Trends in Renewable and Sustainable Materials for Carbon Neutrality)

Journal of Renewable Materials 2023, 11(7), 3129-3141. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2023.026923

Received 03 October 2022; Accepted 30 December 2022; Issue published 05 June 2023

Abstract

Energy shortage and the emission of greenhouse gases have become a global problem of urgent concern. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a low carbon building material. Geopolymers have become a hot topic due to their environmental sustainability and the feasibility of immobilizing industrial waste. In this paper, steel slag (SS) fines were investigated as auxiliary materials of blast furnace slag (BFS) based geopolymer. The hydration heat properties, flowability, compressive strength, sorptivity coefficient, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the geopolymer pastes were determined. The results showed that the incorporation of SS weakened the reactivity of the BFS-based geopolymer paste and improved the flow values of the paste. The compressive strength of the geopolymer with 20% SS content reached 117 MPa at 28 d. The geopolymer specimens with high compressive strength showed a low sorptivity coefficient. The microscopic results showed that the addition of the appropriate amount of SS reduced the cracks, improved the density of the geopolymer, and produced a geopolymer composite with excellent mechanical properties.

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Keywords

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