Strength of granulated blast furnace slag during hydration reaction process

Abstract

Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) is a by-product of iron production process in which the molten slag from the blast furnace is cooled down rapidly by the highly pressurized water. In many counntries, GBFS has been widely used as a geo-material in civil works, meanwhile in Vietnam, due to the lack of technical standards and development, iron and steel slags including GBFS have not been used in construction. In this paper, firstly, typical properties and chemical content of Formosa GBFS (produced by Formosa Steel Plant in Ha Tinh province, Vietnam) were observed and it was shown that physico-mechanical properties and chemical components of Formosa GBFS are similar to those of GBFS produced in Japan which have been widely used in the port and habor works as alternative sands. Secondly, the hydraulic property and its effects on the unconfined compressive strength were then clarified for different GBFS samples and based on which, an estimation method of unconfined compressive strength was then developed.