Mechanical and durability aspects of concrete incorporating secondary aluminium slag

Abstract

The environmental impact can be minimised by making use of many industrial wastes in a sustainable manner. Recycling and reutilisation of industrial waste and by-products is of paramount importance in cement and concrete industry. In view of rapid infrastructure growth, there is an emerging need for development of cementitious materials or fillers either to replace cement or fine aggregate for stable growth. One of the industrial wastes is secondary aluminium dross. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the mechanical and durability aspects of concrete incorporated with secondary aluminium dross. Cement has been partially replaced by secondary aluminium dross in different proportions to study the mechanical and durability aspects. Various properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, sorptivity, water absorption, rapid chloride penetration have been studied for the usefulness of secondary aluminium dross as construction material. It is observed that up to 15% replacement of cement by secondary aluminium dross, the responses are comparable with the conventional concrete. Studies have also been carried out by adding other supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash and silica fume in various proportions along with secondary aluminium dross and found the improved mechanical and durability properties. From the overall study, it can be concluded that the concrete incorporated with secondary aluminium dross can be used for making paver blocks, refractory bricks and for normal concrete strength applications.