Ground copper slag as a supplementary cementing material and its influence on the fresh properties of self-consolidating concrete

Abstract

This paper reports on an experimental programme to investigate the effect of using ground copper slag (GCS) as a replacement of cement on the fresh properties of self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Totally, seven self-compacting ground copper slag concrete (SCGCSC) mixtures were made with a fixed water–powder ratio of 0.51 in which a portion of the cement was replaced by GCS in weight ratios of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%. The fresh properties were investigated by slump-flow, visual stability index, V-funnel, J-ring, L-box, air content, screen stability and setting time tests. The SCGCSCs were designed to give a constant slump flow of 680 ± 30 mm which was achieved by using the super-plasticiser at varying amounts. This allowed us to have a reasonable comparison of the obtained results. Totally, it has been concluded that using GCS significantly increased the workability of SCC mixtures. As the GCS increased, the slump flow is also increased at a constant amount of water and super-plasticiser, but t...