Experimental Study on the Effect of Silica Fume on Steel Slag Concrete

Abstract

The most versatile construction material is concrete because it can be considered to withstand the harshest
environments while taking on the most inspirational forms. Limits are continually pushed to expand its act with the
support of pioneering chemical admixtures and supplementary cementitious materials. Nowadays, most concrete
mixture contains supplementary cementitious material which forms part of the cementitious component. These
materials are majority byproducts from other processes. The main benefits of SCMs are their ability to replace certain
amount of cement and still able to display cementitious property, thus reducing the cost of using Portland cement. The
fast growth in initialization has resulted in tons and tons of byproduct or waste materials, which can be used as SCMs
such as fly ash, silica fume, ground granulated blast furnace slag, steel slag etc. The use of these byproducts not only
helps to utilize these waste materials but also enhances the properties of concrete in fresh and hydrated states. Slag
cement and fly ash are the two most common SCMs used in concrete. Most concrete produced today includes one or
both of these materials. For this purpose, their properties are normally associated to each other by mix designers
seeking to improve concrete mixtures. Possibly the most effective SCM is silica fume because it advances both
strength and durability of concrete to such extent that modern design rules call for the addition of silica fume for
design of high strength concrete. For designing high strength concrete good quality aggregates is also mandatory.
Steel slag is an industrial byproduct attained from the steel manufacturing industry. It can be used as aggregate in
concrete. It is currently used as aggregate in hot mix asphalt surface applications, but there is a need for some
supplementary work to regulate the feasibility of exploiting this industrial byproduct more wisely as a replacement for
both fine and coarse aggregates in a conventional concrete mixture. Swapping all or some share of natural aggregates
with steel slag would lead to considerable environmental benefits. Steel slag aggregate generally exhibit a propensity
to increase because of the existence of free lime and magnesium oxides hence steel slag aggregates are not used in
concrete making. Good weathering treatment and use of pozzolanic materials like silica fume with steel slag is
described to decrease the development of the concrete. However, all these materials have sure losses but a proper
combination of them can reimburse each other’s drawbacks which may result in a good matrix product with improve
complete quality.