Durability characteristics of self-compacting concrete made with copper slag

Abstract

In this paper, research was conducted to investigate the performance of copper slag in self-compacting concrete (SCC) pertaining to fresh and hardened properties. In this study, natural sand was substituted with 0–60% copper slag giving an increment of 10%, cement content was replaced with 20% fly ash and rest all other parameters including the w/c ratio and amount of super plasticiser remained constant. Fresh properties included the test for passing ability, flowability and the viscosity of SCC. Compressive strength was conducted to test the mechanical property of SCC. Water absorption, rapid chloride permeability and sorptivity test were considered to assess the durability aspects of SCC for up to 1 year. To validate the experimental results, linear regression was applied to develop correlations between fresh, strength and durability properties. The scanning electron microscopy technique was used to study the microstructure of concrete besides X-ray diffraction analysis and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Method of Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was determined to study the statistical significance of the test results of compressive strength and durability properties of SCC. The fresh properties enhanced as the amount of copper slag increased. The results of compressive strength and durability indicated a significant increase in SCC mixes containing up to 30% copper slag; beyond which the results were analogous to that of control concrete mix. This study suggested that copper slag is a sustainable material which could be used in SCC mixes.