A Cleaner Pavement Preventive Maintenance Approach: Performance and Emission Impact Analysis of Slurry Surfacing Containing Electric Arc Furnace Slag

Abstract

Incorporating Electric Arc Furnace Slag (EAFS) into construction materials such as hot-mix asphalt and Portland cement concrete has shown increasing wear and polishing resistance while reducing solid waste and mitigating the carbon footprint of construction engineering. Pavement surface treatment is one of the most used pavement preservation approaches. The slurry surfacing (SS) technique provides the most hot-mix asphalt-like surface texture among the surface treatment techniques. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using EAFS for SS by incorporating various amounts of EAFS and then analyzing the treatment's performance and the resulting carbon footprint reduction. Performance tests of SS, including the wet track abrasion test and loaded wheel test, were performed to evaluate SS's abrasion and deformation resistance. Aggregate packing degree and bonding strength based on the surface charge were also considered to understand the mechanism affecting the performance. The corresponding reduction in carbon footprint is then analyzed using the tiered hybrid life cycle assessment method to understand further the benefits of using EAFS in SS. The results revealed that mixtures incorporating EAFS could be carefully designed to perform better by increasing the packing degree and bonding strength. Also, adding EAFS into SS increased abrasion resistance by up to 18.2%, rutting resistance by up to 72.8%, and reduced the carbon footprint by up to 39.6%.