Sustainable Construction Materials From Clinker Free Cements Based On Chemically Activated Ground Granulated Blast Furnace-slags

Abstract:

Korpa, A., Xhaxhiu, KFaculty of Natural Sciences, Blv. “Zog I”, 1001, Tirana, AlbaniaIn line with the goal of sustainable development in the construction industry, we have investigated the possibility of developing clinker free binders (cements), at low energy cost, composed of ground granulated blast furnace slag with addition of various activators. Several blast furnance slags obtained from different sources as well as a large number of common and new activator types were tested. It shows that, the granulation process is of major importance for the quality and suitability of the slag for the binder production. The reactivity of blast furnace slag depends on its chemical and mineralogical composition, on the degree of vitrification and fineness of grinding, more precisely on the particle size distribution and specific surface area. The properties of the resulting binders were strongly dependent on both slag and activator characteristics. In order to assess the influence of the activator concentration on binder properties (setting time and strength), the activatiors were employed with varying concentrations. The slag-sulphatic type activators show worse resulting binder properties then the slag alkaline type activators. However the mixture of sulphatic-alkaline activators due to the synergitic activation effects produced binders of optimal properties. The optimisation to obtain high quality cements for industrial applications can be performed either through the binder, slag or both at the same time.

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