Blast furnace dust: An alternative for the improvement of granular material for pavements

Abstract

The boom in the construction of infrastructure works has encouraged the demand for materials such as steel and natural aggregates, which in turn has generated an increase in the exploitation of materials and the generation of residual iron and steel. This situation has caused double the environmental impact due to the accumulation of these residual materials and the indiscriminate exploitation of non-renewable natural resources. This study was carried out with the aim of analyzing the possibility of using blast furnace dust to improve the properties of granular materials used in the construction of roads, as an alternative to mitigate the environmental problems caused by poor disposal and accumulation of this waste, affecting the areas of influence of these companies. To achieve this objective the physical and chemical properties of fine blast furnace dust was determined and mixtures of materials with a granular base with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 percent blast furnace dust were analyzed to find the properties of resistance (California Bearing Ratio and resilient module), plasticity and expansion in the presence of water. The results of this study indicate that blast furnace dust can be used to improve some properties of natural aggregates for use in road construction.