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suez canal Engineering Journal

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jobe

Fresh and hardened properties of high strength self-compacting concrete

using by-product ferronickel slag fine aggregate.
Md Nuruzzaman * , Jhanssen Orlando Camargo Casimiro , Prabir Kumar Sarker Civil Engineering
Discipline, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

Abstract:
Concrete nowadays is the most frequently used building material all over the world. This is causing a tremendous pressure on the
supply of its constituents like natural sand which is traditionally used as the fine aggregate. Therefore, it is essential to search for
alternative materials in order to meet the increasing demand of concrete and improve the sustainability of concrete industry. This
study investigated the effect of using by-product ferronickel slag (FNS) as a partial replacement of natural sand in high strength self-
compacting concrete (SCC). Utilization of by-product FNS will also lessen the risk of environmental pollution. Results show that
concrete containing up to 40% FNS fine aggregate met all the recommended criteria of EFNARC for SCC without any segregation in
the flow and J-ring tests, and no blockage in the L-box and V-funnel tests.

1-Introduction:
Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a special type of concrete that was first conceptualized and developed in Japan . The main idea
behind the development of this special type of concrete was to create a concrete which is not reliant on the skill of workers during
construction . The key characteristic of SCC is high fluidity that enables it to be placed without any additional compaction.
Moreover, it spreads under the influence of its own weight without undergoing any segregation or bleeding. This novel feature
helps SCC to flow through congested reinforcements, fill up small interstices and flow into complex formworks. As a result, it
increases the freedom for architects and engineers to design concrete structures of different sizes and complex shapes. The use of
SCC improves the working environment by reducing noises , and decreases the construction time span. In this research, by-product
ferronickel slag (FNS) was used as an alternative fine aggregate to help the conservation of natural sand. FNS was collected from a
smelter in New Caledonia which is one of the largest Nickel producers of the world. The annual FNS production of this plant is
approximately 1.7 million tonnes.
the use of FNS as a replacement of sand can make a significant contribution to conservation of natural resources and reduce the
environmental impact of concrete production. Due to the compatibility in physical properties like particle size, specific gravity,
 density and water absorption, FNS may be used as a substitute of natural sand in concrete . studies exhibited an increase of
compressive strength with the increase of FNS aggregate up to 50% in comparison to the concrete using natural sand.

2. Experimental work:
2.1. Materials
- The coarse aggregate was crushed rock with a density of 2650 kg/m3 and a maximum size of 10 mm.

- Natural sand and FNS were used as fine aggregates. The gradation of sand, FNS and their three combinations (80% sand with 20%
FNS, 60% sand with 40% FNS and 40% sand with 60% FNS).

- Ordinary Portland cement (OPC), fly ash and GGBFS were used as binders in this study. The densities of OPC, fly ash and GGBFS
were 3150 kg/m3 , 2200 kg/m3 and 2920 kg/m3.

- Master Rheobuild 1000NT was used as a superplasticizer (SP) to enhance the workability of concrete. The density of the
superplasticizer was 1200 kg/m.

2.2. Concrete mixture proportions : Four different concrete mixtures were studied with varying percentages of FNS as
a substitution of natural sand in order to compare the effect of FNS fine aggregate on the properties of SCC mixtures. The
selfcompacting concrete mix design method of Su et al was used to calculate the mix proportions, which are given in Table 4.
a fly ash content of 30% was used in this study based on the previous works. A control SCC mixture (FNS0) was used with
100% natural sand as fine aggregate as the benchmark. The other three mixtures FNS20, FNS40 and FNS60 contained sand
replacement by FNS at the rates of 20%, 40%, and 60%, respectively.

2.3. Batching procedure and curing condition: Saturated surface dry aggregates were used in mixing the concretes. Firstly,
coarse aggregate, fine aggregate and all binders were dry mixed for about 2 min and then water was added slowly. The
superplasticizer was also poured into the mixture and mixing continued until it was a uniform mixture. After the completion of
mixing, the fresh concrete was used for the flow test, T50cm test, J-ring test, V-funnel test, L-box test and U-box test to determine its
conformity with the criteria of SCC. Then cylinder samples were prepared for compressive and splitting tensile . However, one set of
cylinders were cast using a vibrating table for comparison of the strengths of concrete for no compaction and compaction by a
vibrating table. The surface was finished by a trowel and then the moulds were covered by plastic to avoid the loss of moisture. After
24 h, the samples were demoulded and immersed in lime water at 23 ◦C for curing.
 2.4. Test methods :
- Testing of fresh concrete properties Slump, J-ring, T50cm, L-box, U-box and V-funnel tests were carried out to assess the fresh
properties of concrete mixtures.
- Mechanical properties The compressive and splitting tensile strengths were determined in accordance with ASTM C39 and
ASTM C496 [34,35] standards respectively.
- Durability related properties The volume of permeable voids (VPV), water absorption, sorptivity and rapid chloride
permeability test (RCPT) were performed to investigate the durability of concrete specimens.

3. Results and discussion

1-Fresh concrete properties
-Slump flow and T50cm : Slump measures the filling ability of an
SCC mixture. The flow diameter and T50cm values of the mixtures ar
This shows that workability of fresh concrete decreased with the
increase of FNS content e plotted in Fig. 2, which shows that the flow
diameter gradually decreased from 760 mm for mix FNS0 to 640 mm
for mix FNS60.

-V-funnel and L-box test results: . It can be seen that the results
of the V-funnel test were almost identical for all the mixtures
except for FNS60. As per EFNARC [33], the recommended time
limit is from 6 to 12 s for SCC mix to pass through the gate of the
V funnel by its own weight. Mixes FNS0, FNS20 and FNS40 met
this criterion since the times required for these mixes were
between 9 and 10 s, while that for mix FNS60 was 17 s. As per
EFNARC [39], all the SCC mixes belong to the class VF2 which is
consistent with the VS2 classification according to the slump flow
and T50cm test results, since both the classifications are based
on the viscosity of concrete.
-J-ring and U-box test results: The J-ring and U-box results are
plotted in Fig. 6. The J-ring test represents an evaluation of the passing
ability. the time required for concrete to reach a spread diameter of 500
mm. for mixtures FNS0, FNS20, FBS40 and FNS60 were 8 s, 9 s, 10 s and 13 s, respectively. It was found that the time increased with
the increase of FNS particles in the mixture.
-Density of fresh concrete: The results show that the density increased by
1.58%, 3.15% and 4.73% due to the use of 20%, 40% and 60% FNS. This is
mainly due to the higher specific gravity of FNS than the natural sand. The
concrete mixtures containing up to 40% FNS fine aggregate met all the
recommended criteria of EFNARC for SCC without showing any segregation
or blockage, whereas the concrete using 60% FNS did not meet most of the
criteria for SCC and showed segregation. Therefore, while the concretes
containing up to 40 % FNS met the desirable fresh properties of SCC, the FNS content 60% or more may not be
considered suitable for SCC.
2-Hardened concrete propertie:
- Density of hardened concrete The densities of
hardened concrete containing different percentages
of FNS are given in Table 7. A similar trend with the
fresh concrete density is also observed for the
hardened concrete density. The densities of
mixtures FNS20, FNS40 and FNS60 increased by
1.56%, 6.37% and 8.56%, respectively in comparison
to that of the control SCC (FNS0).
- Compressive strength: The 7-day compressive strength of the control mixture (FNS0) was 37 MPa, which increased by 1%,
34% and 31% for mixtures FNS20, FNS40 and FNS60, respectively. At 28 days, compressive strength of the control mix increased
to 50 MPa, which increased by 3%, 30% and 22% for mixtures FNS20, FNS40 and FNS60, respectively. , the compressive strength
of SCC increased with the increase of FNS content up to a 40% sand replacement level. Compressive strength of mix FNS60 then
declined in comparison to that of mix FNS40 but it was still higher than compressive strength of the control mix.
-Splitting tensile strength; It is found that splitting tensile strength of the control concrete was 4.3 MPa, which increased by
1.86%, 15.35% and 7.67% for mixtures FNS20, FNS40 and FNS60, respectively. Similar to the trend shown by compressive strengths,
splitting tensile strength increased for increasing FNS content up to 40% and then declined for a further increase to 60% in
comparison with FNS40. However, the splitting tensile strength of the mix FNS60 was still higher than that of mix FNS0.
3Properties related to durability:
-Volume of permeable voids (VPV) and water absorption VPV and water absorption tests are used as indicators of
concrete porosity which is comprised of air voids, capillary pores, micro-cracks and gel pores. the values of VPV and water
 absorption decreased with the increase of FNS content up to 40%. The values then slightly increased with a further increase of
FNS content to 60%. The decrease of porosity is attributed to the enhanced particle packing by the improvement of grain size
distribution due to the inclusion of FNS fine aggregate with sand.
Among all the mixes, FNS40 showed the lowest VPV and water
absorption which are 6.28% and 2.6%, respectively.
Sorptivity : , in terms of sorptivity, all the mixtures are considered
as “good” concrete. It is apparent from Fig. 12 that sorptivity of the
mixtures showed the same trend as the VPV and water absorption.
Sorptivity decreased with the increase of FNS content up to 40% and
then slightly increased for FNS60.

-Chloride permeability Chloride permeability is one of the most important durability properties of concrete, especially when
exposed to the marine environment. The total charge passed in the RCPT is taken as an indication of the chloride permeability of
concrete. For all the mixes, the charges passed were well below 1000 coulombs indicating the chloride ion penetrability is very low
in accordance with the recommendations of ASTM C1202 [38]. Chloride ion penetrability gradually decreased with the increase of
FNS content up to 60%. This gradual reduction can be attributed to the fact that inclusion of FNS made the fine aggregate well-
graded which enhances the density of the matrix. Generally, it is expected that the pozzolanic reactions of fly ash and GGBFS reduce
hydroxyl ion in the pore solution [46] and also reduces porosity [47], thus it reduces the chloride ion penetrability. Again, the use of
FNS fine aggregate decreased porosity by the improvement of the overall aggregate grading as shown by the reduction of VPV.
Therefore the specimens of all the mixtures showed very low chloride ion penetrability.

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