substitution of the natural sand by crystallized slag of ... · standards nf p18-553, nf p18-555,...

Alexandria Engineering Journal (2016) xxx, xxx–xxx

HO ST E D BY

Alexandria University

Alexandria Engineering Journal

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Substitution of the natural sand by crystallized slag

of blast furnace in the composition of concrete

* Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Senani), Ferhoune.

[email protected] (N. Ferhoune), [email protected]

(A. Guettala).

Peer review under responsibility of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria

University.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2016.05.0061110-0168 � 2016 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article in press as: M. Senani et al., Substitution of the natural sand by crystallized slag of blast furnace in the composition of concrete, AlexandJ. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2016.05.006

Meriem Senani a, Noureddine Ferhoune b,*, Abdelhamid Guettala a

aUniversity of Mohamed Khider Biskra, AlgeriabCivil Engineering, University of Larbi Ben M’hidi, Algeria

Received 16 December 2015; revised 28 April 2016; accepted 4 May 2016

KEYWORDS

Concrete sand slag;

Crystallized sand slag;

Mechanical performance;

Durability

Abstract In this study, we sought to use the crystallized sand slag of blast furnace in the produc-

tion of ordinary concrete. The natural sand is substitute totally or partially by the crystallized sand

slag in the composition of concrete. The characterization of these concretes was made based on their

mechanical properties: compressive strength, tensile strength as well as durability: capillary, absorp-

tion of water and shrinkage. The experimental results of concrete that is the natural sand is replaced

partially or completely by crystallized sand slag were compared with experimental results of ordi-

nary concrete. Results show that the percentages of crystallized sand slag on the composition of

concrete have an important effect on the mechanical proprieties of concrete. The comparison of dif-

ferent characteristics of the study in this work shows the benefits of use of crystallized sand slag in

the composition of concrete compared with ordinary concrete, which confirms the possibility to use

the crystallized sand slag in the manufacturing of concrete.� 2016 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an

open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

Crystallized slag (slag is air cooled in this study) from blast fur-nace of the El Hadjar steel complex, Algeria, can be identified

as a new building material in the preparation of concrete. Theuses of industrial waste as a substitute material helps save alarge share of natural resources and protect the environment.

The crystallized slag was used as an aggregate in the composi-tion of concrete core of rectangular thin welded steel tubes

subjected to axial or eccentric load performed by Ferhouneand Zeghiche [1–3]. The crystallized slag aggregate was usedalso in the manufacturing of concrete in the composite stubs

with I shaped steel section study by Zeghiche [4]. The concretesand slag has not fact object a comprehensive study to identifyits different properties. A Few studies have been made on thecharacterization of this concrete [5–11]; for this, we conducted

a comparative study between concretes containing crystallizedsand slag (named in this paper concrete sand slag) and ordi-nary concrete. In this work, we have characterized the different

mechanical proprieties and study the durability of concretesand slag, and compared theme to the performance of ordinaryconcrete.

ria Eng.

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2 M. Senani et al.

2. Materials characterization

2.1. Cement and water

The cement used in this study is commercial Portland (CEMII) class 42.5 MPa from cement factory of hadjar elsoud skikda

(Algeria) obtained by mixing 85% clinker and 15% of slag as amineral addition. The chemical and mineralogical composi-tions of the cement are presented in Table 1. The apparent den-

sity of cement used in the manufacturing of concrete is1260 kg/m3, its specific density is 3000 kg/m3, and the finenessmeasured of this cement is between 3200 and 3400 cm2/g. Thewater used in the composition of concrete study in this work is

tap water at a temperature of 20 ± 2 �C. Its quality conformsto the requirements of standard NFP 18-404.

2.2. Sand

The sand used (0/2.5 mm) in this study is from tebessa quarry(algeria), and crystallized slag sand (0/3.15 mm) from blast fur-

nace of the El Hadjar steel complex, Algeria. The chemical com-positions and the physical properties of the sands are presentedin Tables 2 and 3. All properties were measured by following

standards NF P18-553, NF P18-555, NF P18-597 NF P18-598, and NF P18-560. The morphologies and grading curvesof the different sands before and after correction are given inFig. 1.

2.3. Gravel

We used fractions of crushed stone (5/12.5 mm) from the Souk

Ahras region (Algeria). The Apparent density measured is1300.0 kg/m3, the specific density is 2500 kg/m3 and coefficientof Los Angeles is equal to 23.04% (hard). The properties were

measured by NF P18-560, NF P18-554, and NF P18-573. Thegrading curves of the gravels are given in Fig. 1.

2.4. Mineral addition

In this study, we used slag which was essentially obtained bygrinding by-products of the industry of blast furnace steelEl-Hadjar (Algeria). The compositions and physical properties

of the addition are shown in Tables 4 and 5. We did the

Table 1 Chemical and mineralogical composition of the

cement in percentage.

Chemical

composition of

the cement

Percentage Mineralogical

composition of the

cement

Percentage

CaO 56–63 C3S 50–65

Al2O3 4–6 C2S 10–25

SiO2 19–27 C3A 9–12

Fe2O3 2.5–3.5 C4AF 7–11

MgO 1–2

Na2O 0.1–0.6

K2O 0.3–0.6

Cl� 0–0.2

SO3 2–3

CaO 0.5–2.5

Please cite this article in press as: M. Senani et al., Substitution of the natural sand byJ. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2016.05.006

comparison between physical proprieties of slag and cementwhich is that the slag fineness is greater than that of cement.

2.5. Absolute density and bulk density of crystallized slag

The density is determined using the standard NF EN 12350-6,and the bulk density of the crystallized slag depends on the

cooling conditions. In this study we have used a crystallizedslag air cooled, the bulk density obtained is 1.22 g/cm3 andthe absolute density determinate according to the French stan-

dard cited previously is about 2.8 g/cm3.

2.6. Porosity and water absorption of crystallized slag

The porosity is defined as the percentage of voids in the aggre-gate unit volume, the value of porosity determinate in the caseof slag used in this study is about 17%. The water absorptionof slag depending on porosity and dimension of the capillary

channels, the percentage of water absorption by capillarityafter three hours is found equal to 3.44%.

3. Concrete mix design

Concrete mixes containing either natural or crystallized slagsands were studied and compared. Three different mix designs

were investigated for the concrete with natural and crystallizedslag sand (Fig. 2). The first of these was a control mix and didnot contain any granulated blast furnace slag, and is desig-

nated by BO. Two of the mixes contained 100% replacementof natural sand with crystallized slag sand which is designatedby BSI and one contained 28% natural sand and 72% crystal-

lized slag sand, which is designated by BSII. The complete pro-portions for the mixes BO, BSI, BSII are given in Table 6.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Concrete slump

The test of concrete slump was performed in accordance withstandard NFP18-451. The experimental concrete slump wasevaluated by measuring the slump of the fresh concrete with

an Abrams cone (Fig. 3). The three types of concrete concreteBO, BSI slag sand concrete, and slag concrete BSII are formu-lated with a plastic consistency, with a slump of about 60 mm

with an error of ±1 mm. Fig. 4 shows the different results ofreal and calculated water/cement ration of three types of con-crete study here. The ratio water/cement is quasi-proportional

and can be explained by the cavities found in crystallized slagwhich absorbs water.

4.2. Density

The search for a high compactness or density is justified tohave good mechanical properties. The density is determinedusing the standard NF EN 12350-6, as for a conventional con-

crete, and the density of slag sand concrete depends on its for-mulation and its implementation. Normally density obtainedon wet concrete is equal or greater than 2.4. The density

obtained for the three concretes studied here, is 2.55 for BOconcrete, and is equal to 2.529 for BSI concrete, and finally

crystallized slag of blast furnace in the composition of concrete, Alexandria Eng.


Table 2 Physical properties of sands.

Sand type Apparent density

(kg/m3)

Specific density

(kg/m3)

Porosity in

percentage

Fines Modulus

(M.F)

Water content in

percentage

Sand equivalent in

percentage

Dune sand (0/2.5 mm) 1610 2650 40 2.21 90.52

Crystallized sand slag

(0/3.15 mm)

1570 2630 41 3.1 0.35 88.52

Table 3 Physical properties of gravel.

Gravel type Apparent density

(kg/m3)

Specific density

(kg/m3)

Porosity in

percentage

Water content in

percentage

Cleanness

value

Absorption coefficient in

percentage

Gravel (5/

12.5 mm)

1300 2500 48 0.79 2 2.55

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27

siev

es in

per

cent

age

diameter of sieve in mm

sand 0/2.5

gravel 5/12.5

slag 0/3.15

Figure 1 Grading curves of gravels.

Table 4 Chemical composition of the addition in percentage.

CaO Al2O3 SiO2 Fe2O3 MgO Na2O K2O Cl� SO3

40.69 8.17 34.41 4.15 4.56 0.10 0.89 0.01 0.36

Table 5 Physical properties of the addition.

Addition type Slag

Bulk density (kg/m3) 1257

Absolute density (kg/m3) 2955.3

Fineness (cm2/g) 5501.9

Substitution of the natural sand by crystallized slag 3

2.455 for BSII concrete. The results of density obtained in thisstudy are shown in Fig. 5.

4.3. Compressive strengths

The compressive strengths are estimated on cubic samples ofconcrete with dimension (100 � 100 � 100 mm3). The charac-

terization of the compressive strengths of concrete was carriedout in 28 days; using a 500 kN compressive hydraulic testingmachine. The value of the considered compressive strengthconstitutes the average of the results from six specimens. The


compression test was conducted in accordance with standardNF P 18-406. Results show that the compressive strength of

concrete BO and BSI is a bit higher than that of concretemix BSII, and this can be explained by the best bindingpaste-granulate and the surface texture of the aggregate used

in manufacturing BO and BSI concrete. The decrease rate ofcompressive strength of concrete BSII at 28 days comparedto two other concrete studies in this work is between 3%

and 4%. The evaluation of the compressive strength of three



Figure 2 Concrete specimens.

Table 6 The mix proportions and properties.

Compositions Unit BO BSI BSII

Cement CPJ 42.5 kg/m3 350 300 300

Water/Cement calculated – 0.5 0.81 0.61

Water/Cement real – 0.55 0.88 0.88

Sand Dune 0/2.5 kg/m3 725.59 – 500

Slag granulated 0/3.15 kg/m3 – 1540 1275

Gravel 5/12.5 kg/m3 1070.67 – –

Figure 3 Concrete slump test.

0.5

0.81

0.610.55

0.88 0.88

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.91

B.O BSI BSII

W/C calculated W/C real

Concrete type

Wat

er/

Cem

ent r

a�o

Figure 4 Variation of water/cement ratio of different concrete

type.

2.32 2.2852.4552.55 2.529 2.455

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

B.O BSI BSII

Theore�cal Real

concete type

dens

ity K

g/m

3

Figure 5 Density of different concretes.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

714286090120

BO BSI BSII

Com

pres

sive

stre

ngth

MPa

�me in days

Figure 6 Compressive strength of concrete.

4 M. Senani et al.

types of concrete studied here was found proportional to thetime of conservation, and the compressive strength begins tostabilize after 90 days of conservation as shown in Fig. 6.

4.4. Tensile strength

The Tensile strength is determined using the standard BS 1881

(Fig. 7). The splitting tensile strengths of the concrete mixesare compared in Fig. 8. The results obtained show that the lar-gest recorded value of the tensile strength is that of concrete

BSI whose natural sand is completely replaced by the sand slagin the composition. The tensile strength increase for mix BSI


compared to that of mix BO is almost 100%; this can beexplained by a significant percentage of iron in sand slag(paste-granulate content 100% of sand slag), that can

absorbed the tensile stress which increases the resistance ofBSI mix in the case of traction force.

4.5. Bending strength by three points

The bending test by three points was performed according toASTM D 790-81. The bending strength as shown in Fig. 9 is

the average of six samples tested specimens for each type ofconcrete studied here. We note that the BSI concrete with



Figure 7 Tensile strength test.

2.2

4.38

3.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

B.O BSI BSII

spli�

ng te

nsile

stre

ngth

s in

MPa

concrete type

Figure 8 Tensile strength of concrete.

2.88

4.1

3.1

00.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.5

B.O BSI BSII

Bend

ing

stre

ngth

Concrete type

Figure 9 Bending strength of concrete.

0.47

0.28

0.37

00.050.1

0.150.2

0.250.3

0.350.4

0.450.5

B.O BSI BSII

Capi

llarit

y in

per

cent

age

Concrete type

Figure 10 Capillarity of concretes.

5.28

5.43

5.15

55.055.1

5.155.2

5.255.3

5.355.4

5.455.5

B.O BSI BSIIConcrete type

Wat

er a

bsor

p�on

by

imm

ersi

on in

per

cent

age

Figure 11 Water absorption by immersion of concretes.


natural sand is completely replaced by the slag sand which hasa higher bending strength than that of ordinary concrete BO.

The growth of strength is 42% in this case, meaning that theconcrete BSII has better bending strength compared to ordi-nary concrete BO. Against that, the BSII concrete has a bend-

ing strength that it is within the range of two concrete strengthresistances of BSI and BO.


4.6. Capillarity

The capillarity is determined using the standard NF P 18-502.

The results shown in Fig. 10 are the average of six prismaticspecimens 70 � 70 � 280 mm3. These results show that thecapillary rise is low for concrete BSI (C= 0.28%) and BSII(C= 0.37%) compared to ordinary concrete BO

(C= 0.47%). From these results we can conclude that theuse of crystallized slag as sand in the manufacturing of con-crete does not increase the permeability.

4.7. Water absorption by immersion

The result is the average of six prismatic specimens

70 � 70 � 280 mm3, and the water absorption in percentageis equal to 5.28 for BO concrete and 5.15 in the cases of BSIIconcrete. We can note that the percentage of water absorption

by immersion of both BO and BSII concretes are very close,which means they have the same characteristic of waterabsorption. The results registered are presented in Fig. 11.We see that the water absorption coefficient of concrete mix

BSI is little greater than that of other types of concrete studiedhere, and this can be explained by the important porosityknown in the slag granulate compared to natural sand.

4.8. Weight loss according concrete age

The weight loss of the concrete samples studied here is mea-

sured over time conservation, knowing that the specimensare kept in an ambient temperature of 25 �C after saturation.



Figure 12 Weight loss test.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

2 7 14 28 60

B.O BSI BSII

age of concret in days

wei

ght l

oss

in p

erce

ntag

e

Figure 13 Water absorption by immersion of concretes.

Figure 14 Hydraul

6 M. Senani et al.


The weight loss (Fig. 12) for concrete based on the sand slag

BSI and BSII is the weakest. This is explained by the fact thatpart of the mixing water is chemically combined with slag fineand participates in the hydration reactions. Against the ordi-

nary concrete BO, it has higher weight loss rates. All resultsof weight loss depending on the concrete age are presentedin Fig. 13.

4.9. Hydraulic shrinkage

The shrinkage is determined using the standard NF P 15-433(Fig. 14). The evolution of hydraulic shrinkage over time of

the three concretes is shown in Fig. 15. It can be seen that over-all values of hydraulic shrinkage of sand slag concrete withhigh dosage of granulated slag are lower and remain close to

ic shrinkage test.



0102030405060708090

100

0 5 10 15

hydr

aulic

shrin

kage

(m

/m)

conrete age in days

BO BSI BSII

Figure 15 Hydraulic shrinkage of different concretes.

0

100

200

300

400

500

012345

BSII BSI

Weight loss in percentage

Hydr

aulic

shrin

kage

(

m/m

)

Figure 16 Shrinkage-weight loss relationship of concrete BSI

and BSII.


the limits of the current values of ordinary concrete BO. Thiscan be explained by the strong compactness obtained for the

sand slag concrete.

4.10. Shrinkage–weight loss relationship

Fig. 16 shows the development of the hydraulic shrinkage overthe weight loss of prismatic samples concrete which used asand slag in the composition. Generally we see the presence

of three phases:

– In the first phase, the shrinkage and weight loss evolve lin-early. This is generally caused by the contraction of the

solid skeleton by capillary depression.– The second phase is a slight evolution of weight loss withlow additional shrinkage.

5. Conclusion

Sand concrete represents a new family of concretes whose per-formances evolve according to several independent parame-ters. This study highlighted the role and influence of certain

parameters namely the dosage, the nature and size of the sand


on the characteristics of the concrete slag sand, fresh andhardened.

The characterization of slag sand concrete was made from

their mechanical properties: compressive strength and tensilestrength, as well as their durability: the capillary water absorp-tion and hydraulic shrinkage. By analyzing the results we can

conclude several positive points:

– The high compactness achieved by adding sand slag in suit-

able proportions provides gains of compressive and tensilestrength.

– The use of granulated slag as sand in the composition ofconcrete can meet two objectives that have a direct relation-

ship with the cost of concrete: minimizing the amount ofcement in the concrete composition and increasing themechanical characteristic of concrete.

– The amount of mixing water used in concrete sand slag isimportant because of the high water absorption by the crys-tallized slag sand.

– The use of sand slag granulated in the composition of con-crete can give an economic interest in reducing the cost ofconcrete and may intervene in the environmental protection

of this blast furnace waste.

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