Effect of nickel slag as a sand replacement in strength and workability of concrete

Abstract

Concrete containing cement, sand, gravel, nickel slag, water and superplasticizer were processed using normal intensive mixing. The strength of concrete is determined by the interfacial zone between binder paste and aggregates. Due to the weathering of natural aggregates with time, a morphology with rounded edges is obtained, reducing the interlocking with the paste. Hence, it is interesting to investigate the use of nickel slag as a sand replacement in concrete since this material has sharp angular edges, which can improve the cohesion of the concrete. This research investigates the use of nickel slag as the replacement of sand in concrete. Various concrete samples were produced with the increasing nickel slag content from 0% to 50% every 10%. A water-cement-ratio of 0.35 was chosen in this study. Concrete mixes were assessed for their compressive strength and workability. The obtained results showed that the strength of the concrete increases together with the increasing nickel slag content in the concrete mixture. Also, the results demonstrated that the slump increases with rising nickel content. In addition, there was no bleeding in fresh concrete mixture in this research.