Durability Studies on Fiber-Reinforced Siderurgic Concrete

The construction sector is clearly one of the most pollutant at a global level and its consumption of natural resources is also enormous. Over recent years, heightened awareness of this issue within the construction sector has motivated changes within its working practice,seeking to reduce its environmental impacts and to mitigate the effects of climate change. The consumption of natural resources can be reduced in very different areas and special attention has been given to the substitution of Natural Aggregates (NA) in concrete design by replacing those aggregates with various waste coproducts. Siderurgic concrete is the name given to concrete manufactured with siderurgical aggregate from the steel-making industry. In this paper, test results on fiber-reinforced siderurgical concrete are reported. The concrete is manufactured with approximately 50% Electric Arc Furnace Slag (EAFS) aggregate by volume, for use in pavement applications. Steel and polypropylene fibers, amounting to approximately 0.5% by volume of the concrete mass, are also added to the mix. The durability properties of this concrete type are analyzed through freeze/thaw and moist/dry tests. Furthermore, the long-term behavior of the concrete is explained through its internal structure, using Mercury Intrusion Porosity (MIP) and low-vacuum Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyses. The results add further weight to the feasibility of using EAFS in replacement of NA in fiber-reinforced concrete for pavement construction.