Effect of Steel Slag and Portland Cement in the Rate of Hydration and Strength of Blast Furnace Slag Pastes

This paper presents an experimental study of the influence of steel basic oxygen slag (BOS) and ordinary portland cement (OPC) on the compressive strength and the hydration mechanisms of blended grounded granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) pastes. The compressive strength, the mineralogical changes due to hydration, the setting times, the alkalinity of the raw materials, and the pore solution, and the volume stability were measured on binary and ternary mixes. It is concluded that the steel slag can be used as an activator of GGBS and the optimum composition of those materials was determined with a proposed parameter called slag index. The properties measured in blended OPC-GGBS-BOS mixes showed encouraging results to be used industrially. The mechanisms of hydration of the blended slag mixes are discussed and a hydration model of the blended system GGBS-BOS is proposed.