Low Liquid-to-solid Ratio of Mining Waste and Slag Binary Alkali-activated Material

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of the increasingly compressing pressures on the properties of the low liquid-to-solid (L/S) ratio binary alkali-activated binder to use as a binder for the manufacturing of engineered stones. The binders were a combination of two types of wastes (aluminosilicate source) as precursors (TMWM 50 Vt.% + EAF-Slag 50 Vt.%), blended with (11.11 wt.%) alkaline activator solution (NaOH/Na2SiO3 with weight ratio 4/1). The mixtures were molded in cube and exposed to five different pressures (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 MPa) in order to obtain a compressed alkali-activated binder. The main evaluation techniques in this study were compressive strength, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the maximum compressive strength (50.57 MPa) was obtained at a pressing pressure 100 MPa at twenty-eight days of testing.