Reaction kinetics, reaction products and compressive strength of ternary activators activated slag designed by Taguchi method

This study investigates the reaction kinetics, the reaction products and the compressive strength of slag activated by ternary activators, namely waterglass, sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. Nine mixtures are designed by the Taguchi method considering the factors of sodium carbonate content (SCC), water to solid ratio (WSR), waterglass modulus (WGM) and waterglass content (WGC), and the experimental results are evaluated by applying the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method. The results show that ternary activators determine the reaction kinetics, sodium carbonate dominates the gel structure of reaction products, while the waterglass dosage is a determinant of the compressive strength. Based on the analyzed results, an optimal proportion of ternary alkali activators (SCC 4%, WGC 2.5%, WGM 1.1-1.5 and WSR 0.4) is proposed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.