High performance cementing materials from industrial slags - a review

At the present, most industrial slags are being used without taking full ad vantage of their properties or disposed rather than used. The industrial sl ags, which have cementitious or pozzolanic properties, should be used as pa rtial or full replacement for Portland cement rather than as bulk aggregate s or ballasts because of the high cost of Portland cement, which is attribu table to the high energy consumption for the production of Portland cement. The traditional way to utilize metallurgical slags in cementing materials is to partially replace Portland cement, which usually results in a lower e arly strength and longer setting times. Presence of activator(s) can accele rate the break-up of structure and hydration of slags. Many research result s have indicated that clinkerless alkali-activated slags even exhibit highe r strengths, denser structure and better durability compared with Portland cement. In this paper, the recent achievements in the development of high p erformance cementing materials based on activated slags such as blast furna ce slag, steel slag, copper slag and phosphorus slag are reviewed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.