Effect of Aluminium Dross on Workability and Setting Time of Cement and Concrete

Abstract

Aluminium dross is generated when resmelting process is done in an aluminium industry to recover residual aluminium, wherein primary dross is taken as a raw material. It is completely a waste product and hazardous to dispose it into landfills. This is rich in aluminium oxide and having traces of few heavy metals. It is necessary to check the eco-friendly methods of solidification of this material. One of the feasible methods of solidifying the industrial wastes is using them in production of cement concrete. In this study, behaviour of aluminium dross as a partial replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement is evaluated. Aluminium dross is replaced at 5, 10, 15 and 20% of Ordinary Portland Cement. Consistency and setting time of cement paste samples were determined which shows a lag in setting time of paste. Workability and setting time of concrete mixes with 5, 10, 15 and 20% of Aluminium dross as a binder, were evaluated. Retardation of setting time and increase in the workability are the main observations of this study. As the percentage of aluminium dross increases, the setting time also increases. This may be considered as a reason to utilize such concrete mixes in hot weather conditions wherein delayed setting time is an added advantage. Therefore, retardation of setting time is the positive impact of aluminium dross. Keeping in view of the fact that there can be a reduction in strength with increased binder replacement and the workability requirements, only up to 20% of aluminium dross was replaced in the present study.