Fiber reinforced concrete manufactured with electric arc furnace slag

Abstract

The use of electric arc furnace slag (EAFS), a by-product of the steelmaking industry, as an aggregate in concrete has been demonstrated to be a good practice in its manufacture. Furthermore, the incorporation of fibers in concrete provides a more ductile behavior, increasing their tenacity and load capacity, improving the flexotraction strength and controlling shrinkage cracking. The purpose of this research was to study the performance improvement by reinforcing steel-slag concrete with metallic or synthetic fibers added in different amounts. Some of the properties evaluated were: consistency of freshly mixed concrete by Abrams cone, compressive strength, flexotraction strength and indirect tensile strength. The results show a substantial improvement of the performance of the steel-slag concrete when it is reinforced with fibers. It also fulfils the requirements of “depth of water penetration under pressure” test, even in the worst environmental exposure case.