The role of carbonated steel slag on mechanical performance of ultra-high performance concrete containing coarse aggregates
Shaohua Li, Gang Liu, Qingliang Yu
Abstract
Carbonated fine steel slag (CSS) can be used as supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) to enhance the sustainability of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). However, the role of CSS on the mechanical performance of UHPC containing coarse aggregates (UHPC-CA) has not been well understood. Here, the influence of cement substitution by CSS on the hydration products, microstructure, mesoscale fracture characteristics and macroscopic strength of UHPC-CA is investigated. Results reveal that the C-S-H content in UHPC increases with the increase of CSS substitution up to 15%. Replacement of cement by CSS results in a more porous interfacial transition zone (ITZ), consequently, a lower mechanical contribution from CA. Both the compressive and the flexural strength decrease with the increase of CSS substitution, and the negative effect is rather limited till 30% CSS substitution. Moreover, due to a more porous ITZ at a higher cement substitution, the ratio of flexural to compressive strength decreases with the increase of CSS substitution.