Stabilization and technical feasibility of electric steel slag

Abstract

Electric steel slag are residues of the steel production. It is a material that has expansive behaviour due to the presence of free lime, reactive magnesium oxide, iron oxide and also due to the metastability of dicalcium silicate. The use of this residue depend on its dimensional stabilization. This research work presents a brief review on the electrical steel slag generation, and on the mechanisms and agents that cause the expansive behaviour. A dimensional stabilization method for the electrical steel slag is tested, and an evaluation of the behaviour of the stabilized material in mortars regarding strength and water absorption is presented. Results show that mortars with up to 50% of cement substituted by stabilized slag (ACIGRAN) present similar performance in terms of strength and water absorption compared to mortars without slag.