Performance of eco-friendly mortars made with alkali-activated slag and glass powder as a binder: Fid-Bau Portal

Performance of eco-friendly mortars made with alkali-activated slag and glass powder as a binder

Cercel, Jonathan / Adesina, Adeyemi / Das, Sreekanta

Highlights • Mortars with blast furnace slag and glass powder as precursors were developed. • The precursors were activated with sodium carbonate, silica fume and lime. • Compressive strength and permeability properties of the mortars were evaluated. • Non-destructive tests were used to asses the quality of the mortars.

Abstract This study investigates the properties of mortar made with alkali-activated blast furnace slag and glass powder as a binder. Sodium carbonate was used as the main alkali activator alongside silica fume or hydrated lime as binary activators for the mixtures. The resulting compressive strength and permeability properties of the mixtures were investigated. Ultrasonic pulse velocity was used as a non-destructive test to evaluate the quality of the mixtures and microstructural investigations carried out to validate the performance of the mortar mixtures. Results from this study showed that mixtures incorporating alkali-activated binders are a viable replacement for the conventional Portland cement. Mixtures incorporating glass powder as partial replacement of blast furnace slag showed good performance when activated with sodium carbonate or a binary combination of sodium carbonate and hydrated lime. The compressive strength and permeability properties of the mixtures showed a good correlation between the ultrasonic pulse velocity results and microstructural observations.