The Mechanism of Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag Preventing Alkali Aggregate Reaction

Three different methods were applied to study the alkali content of gelpores in cement. In the closed system, the concentration of K＋, Na＋ and OH - have not reduced with the increase of age. In the open system, the diffusion and transferring of K＋ and Na＋ towards free space leads to the de-crease of total alkali content. In the micro-analysis system, the contents of K＋ and Na＋ in the first hy- drated layer of ground granulated blastfurnace slag （GBFS） are very low, while the contents of calcium and magnesium are relatively high. This phenomenon shows that the mechanism of GBFS preventing alkali aggregate reaction （AAR） is： when GBFS is dissolved by alkali medium, SiO2 and Al2O3 are dissolved into the cement matrix, then around GBFS particles form reaction rings rich in Ca2＋ and Mg^2＋, and the C-S-H gel of positive charges formed in the area repulses K＋ and Na＋, which are forced to transfer to the mortar＇s matrix, pore or mortar sample surface. The transferred K ^＋ and Na^＋ form alkali gel products with other dissolved ions, then become evenly distributed in the mortar sample and react with Ca（OH）2 in pore solutions to form （Na,K）x-2z·zCa·（SiO2）y·（OH）x gel products; and thus changes the AAR gel products＇ structure. The gel products will not expand, and so they can delay expansion destruction.

Mechanical properties and durability of alkali-activated steel slag-blastfurnace slag cement

Alkali-activated cement(AAC)is either clinker-less or free,and it is also environmentally friendly due to its low carbon footprint and wide range sources.Industrial wastes,like steel slag and blastfurnace slag,usually have latent hydraulic reactivity,and can be used as precursors of AAC.Both clinkerless and clinker-free AAC were prepared from the mixture of steel slag and blastfurnace slag by using water glass as an activator,and four different recipes which satisfied the strength requirement of 42.5R Portland cement were obtained.Each recipe of AAC exhibited better resistance to sulfate attack and frost attack than Portland cement.AAC showed huge drying shrinkage,but it was equivalent to that of Portland cement as steel slag content increased to 40%.The AAC also had quite low risk of alkali-aggregate reaction.Microstructure analysis showed that the major products were calcium silicate hydrate(C–S–H),calcium aluminosilicate hydrate(C–A–S–H)and zeolite-like phases.Ettringite was also detected in the binder when gypsum was contained in the precursors.