Hardened properties of concrete containing copper slag, rock dust and polypropylene fiber

Abstract

The concrete is the material that is obtained from concrete forming materials. These raw materials are mixed in particular proportions, these proportions are based on different concrete grades. These concrete grades defines the strength of the concrete. Construction of structures are based upon concrete, the construction process is growing day by day at a huge scale, hence there is more demand for the raw materials. In order to maintain the demand, excessive extractions of raw materials are done, which makes environment more harmful. In order to limit the extraction of natural raw materials that are used for producing concrete mix, alternative supplementary materials are replaced with fine aggregates. This study involves using of alternative supplementary materials as partial replacement of fine aggregate by copper slag and rock dust, copper slag and rock dust are used at various proportions. The various proportions of rock dust and copper slag are 0% to 50% replacement at an increment of 5% interval. Polypropylene fiber is the material that is added as supplementary material to the concrete mix, it is added at constant volume of 1.5% volume of concrete, it is mixed in concrete to improve toughness and reduce shrinkage of concrete. Super plasticizer admixture that is used is Conplast SP430DIS which contains sulphonated naphthalene formaldehyde is added to cement based on site trails which increases the early concrete strength. Combining copper slag, rock dust, polypropylene fiber and super plasticizer admixture in modified concrete gave best results when compared to conventional concrete due to content of silica in copper slag. Hence this combination can be used for further investigation.