Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting

concrete
Kali Prasanna Sethy, Dinakar Pasla*, Umesh Chandra Sahoo
School of Infrastructure, Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out to study the influence of
Received 7 January 2015 industrial slag on the rheological, self-compactability and strength properties of self-compacting con-
Received in revised form crete (SCC) incorporating high volume replacements of industrial slag up to 90%. The rheological
27 July 2015
properties such as plastic viscosity and yield stress were evaluated using ICAR rheometer. The effect of
Accepted 12 August 2015
high range water reducing admixture (HRWR) dosage, and the self-compactability properties such as T50,
Available online xxx
slump flow, V-funnel flow times and L-box blocking ratio were also investigated. The results illustrated
that plastic viscosity decreased with the increase of the percentage of slag and the yield stress was nearly
Keywords:
Industrial slag
zero for all the replacements studied. The compressive strengths determined for the SCCs demonstrated
Self-compacting concrete that high strength SCC of more than 100 MPa at 30% and low strength SCC of 20 MPa at 90% replacement
High range water reducer can be realized by utilizing slag appropriately.
Rheology © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Compressive strength

1. Introduction construction schedule besides producing a noisy environment and

The demand for the design of smaller and shallower reinforced
concrete (RC) members is increasing tremendously for the con-
struction of high rise structures. Such structures usually require
dense reinforcement in beam column junctions and the structures
that are located in high seismic zones. The overall structural per-
formance of concrete can be severely affected if it is not designed
and handled properly. It is well known that compressive strength is
the most important property of concrete. However, when concrete
structures are heavily reinforced, workability of concrete is equally
important in order to compact the concrete without any difficulty.
Compaction provides good consolidation, uniform properties, low
void content, strong bond with the reinforcement and proper sur-
face finish. In this sense, the compaction of the concrete ensures
both strength and durability of the structure. Compaction tech-
niques have advanced over the years but the process is still
complicated in areas of the structure with congested reinforcement
and complex forms (ACI, 1987). Moreover, rigorous supervision and
skilled workers are needed to execute the compaction of complex
elements. On the other hand, compaction causes delays in the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 674 2306353.
E-mail addresses: ks10@iitbbs.ac.in (K.P. Sethy), pdinakar@rediffmail.com
(D. Pasla), ucsahoo@iitbbs.ac.in (U. Chandra Sahoo).
unhealthy working conditions. Thus, to alleviate the problems
associated with concrete placement in narrow and congested RC
members self-compacting concrete (SCC) was developed. It is a
flowing concrete that can easily pass through reinforcement
without the aid of external energy input. Its production and
application symbolizes one of the most significant developments in
the area of concrete composites (Sideris and Manita, 2013; Sua-iam
and Makul, 2013).
SCC is developed using the same basic ingredients that are used
for producing the regular conventional concrete but by carefully
modifying the mix proportions (Diederich et al., 2013). The amount
of coarse aggregate content used in SCC is lower than in conven-
tional vibrated concrete. Any reduction in the total coarse aggregate
content, however, must be balanced by increasing the fine fillers/
additives in order to enhance the viscosity and stability (Parra et al.,
2011). The fillers which are most widely used in SCC are fly ash,
industrial slag, glass powder, limestone powder, silica fume and
quartzite (Persson, 2001). Due to high workability requirement, a
high-range water-reducing admixture (HRWRA) is mandatory in
the development of SCC mixtures so that the concrete is able to
flow under its own weight (Okamura and Ozawa, 1995).
The use of fillers is not new in concrete, and the EFNARC
guidelines (EFNARC, 2005) enforce the use of these in SCC as partial
cement replacement to enhance concrete workability and thereby
to make the concretes economical. Out of all these fillers, class F fly

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Please cite this article in press as: Sethy, K.P., et al., Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting concrete, Journal of Cleaner
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2 K.P. Sethy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7
ash has the highest potential to be used in SCC because of its
availability and particle shape. It was also reported earlier that class
F fly ash to the tune of 85% as cement replacement has been suc-
cessfully used for the development of SCCs (Dinakar et al., 2008a,b,
2009). The use of high calcium fly ash on the development of SCC
was also evaluated recently. It was observed that 30% of high cal-
cium fly ash was found to be the optimum for attaining good SCC
properties (Ponikiewski and Golaszewski, 2014). However, not
much of research work has been carried out on the use of industrial
slag in SCC in high volume replacements. In the earlier studies of
SCC containing slag not much attention was paid towards the
rheological and strength properties (Gesoglu et al., 2009; Guneyisi
et al., 2009). Also the recent study on the behaviour of slag in SCC
was assessed only upto 40% replacement (Zhao et al., 2015). This
paper presents a comprehensive investigation on the fresh and
hardened self-compacting concrete mixtures using slag up to high
volume of 90%. The objective of this research is to investigate the
rheological, self-compacting and strength properties of SCC con-
taining various amounts of slag between 30 and 90% and for
strengths varying between 20 and 100 MPa by adopting a specific
mix design methodology. The developed SCC mixtures were eval-
uated for their fresh properties such as slump flow, V-funnel time,
and time to reach 500 mm diameter (T50), L-Box blocking ratio as
well as the yield stress and plastic viscosity using ICAR Rheometer.
2. Experimental programme
2.1. Materials
An ordinary Portland cement of strength class 53 MPa
complying with IS: 12269 (53 grade) and slag meeting the re-
quirements of ASTM C 618 were used as cementitious materials.
The properties of cement and slag used in the present investigation
were presented in Table 1. Four types of locally available aggregates
i.e., 20 mm aggregate, 12 mm aggregate, 6 mm aggregate and fine
aggregate of maximum size 4.75 mm were mixed together in
different proportions. Commercially available polycarboxylate-
based superplasticiser complying with ASTM C 494 Type F re-
quirements was used.
2.2. Mix design
The mix proportions of SCC with different percentage re-
placements of slag are tabulated in Table 2. A total of five slag SCC
mixtures were designed. The mixtures were designed as per the
methodology described earlier for different strength grades and
replacements of slag by considering the efficiency of slag (k)
(Dinakar et al., 2013a). To have a complete understanding, widest
possible range of concrete strengths was designed from 20 to
100 MPa with slag replacements varying between 30 and 90%.
Table 1
Composition of cement and slag.
(%) Cement
SiO2 32.9
Al2O3 5.7
Fe2O3 3.9
CaO 62.5
MgO 1.2
Na2O 0.1
K2O 0.39
SO3 2.4
LOI 1.2
Blaine surface area (m2/kg) 370
Specific gravity 3.15
Please cite this article in press as: Sethy, K.P., et al., Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting concrete, Journal of Cleaner
Production (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.039
According to the mix design the high strength mixes contains a
lower percentage of slag whereas the low strength mixes contains
high volume replacements of slag as described in Table 2.
In the present study HRWR dosage for the paste was determined
using marsh cone test as suggested by Gettu et al. (2002). After
obtaining the saturation dosage for the paste, several trials were
carried out to optimize the dosage of HRWR and VMA for each SCC
mix in order to attain the required self-compacting fresh properties
according to EFNARC standards (EFNARC, 2005). Regarding the
aggregate grading, the combined aggregates have been selected to
match the standard combined grading curve of DIN 1045 (DIN,
1988). The aggregates comprised of 20% of 20 mm, 27% of 12 mm,
5% of 6 mm and 48% of 4.75 mm to meet the requirements of
standard grading curve of DIN ‘B’. Blending aggregates in this
approach will result in cohesive SCCs (Dinakar, 2012).
2.3. Mixing, demoulding and curing
An 80 L pan mixer was utilized to produce each batch of fresh
concrete. The coarse aggregate, cement, slag and sand were fed into
the mixer and were dry mixed for 1.5 min. Then, water was added
and mixed with the aggregate and cement for 2 min. After this
preliminary mixing, the mixture was left undisturbed for 1 min to
allow water absorption of the aggregates. HRWR was then added to
the mixture and the mixing resumed and continued for a further
2 min.
Immediately after the mixing is completed, the rheological and
self-compactability tests were carried out on the fresh concrete for
each mix to avoid workability loss with time. After carrying out
these tests, the left over concrete in the mixer was again remixed
for 30 s and then taken out of the mixer for casting the specimens.
No tamping or vibration was applied during casting the specimens;
the concrete placed into the moulds was just left to consolidate by
itself under its own weight. The top surface of each concrete cube
was gently trowelled and then covered with a polythene sheet.
The demoulding of the concrete was normally done after 24 h of
casting. The SCC samples were easily demoulded after 24 h for
concretes up to 40% slag replacement. For slag replacements above
40%, it was observed that the demoulding started only after 2 days.
3. Test methods
ICAR rheometer was used to determine the rheological param-
eters of SCC. The operation and the procedure of establishing the
rheological properties have been explained elsewhere (Amaziane
et al., 2005). The test set-up is shown in Fig. 1.
Slump flow, T50 flow time, V-funnel flow time and L-box
blocking ratio tests were carried out on all the SCCs for determining
the self-compactability properties. The tests were performed as per
the EFNARC standards (EFNARC, 2005). The slump flow and the L-
box blocking ratio illustrations were shown in Figs. 2 and 3
respectively.
The unconfined compressive strength test was performed on a
compression testing machine of capacity 3000 kN on 100 mm
Slag concrete cube specimens. The test was carried out at the age of 3, 7,
33.1
28, and 90 days. The specimens were cured till the time of testing
16.6 and tests were carried out on the saturated surface dry specimens.
0.6
34.8 4. Results and discussions
8.0
0.2
0.5 4.1. Fresh properties
0.4
0.3 4.1.1. Rheological properties
430 The rheological properties of all the slag SCC mixtures were
2.93
studied using ICAR Rheometer and the results are shown in Figs. 4
 K.P. Sethy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7 3

Table 2
Mix proportions of the SCCs investigated.

Concrete grade [MPa] Concrete name Total powder [kg/m3] Slag [%] k28 Aggregate, [kg/m3] [w/(c þ k28*g)] HRWR [%] VMA [%]

20 mm 12 mm 6 mm Sand

20 SCC20 550 90 0.69 268 373 224 766 0.78 0.3 0.25
30 SCC30 550 80 0.70 271 376 227 774 0.59 0.5 0.30
60 SCC60 550 60 0.77 274 380 229 782 0.36 1.0 0.20
90 SCC90 550 40 0.92 282 392 236 806 0.27 1.5 0.20
100 SCC100 550 30 1.02 288 400 241 823 0.25 2.2 0.05

k28 e efficiency of slag, HRWR e high range water reducing admixture.

VMA e viscosity modifying agent, c e cement content, g e slag content.

and 5. The SCC mixtures were characterized by a relatively low
yield stress values and all the mixes had shown a very low yield
value of 0.1 Pa (nearly zero). The observed plastic viscosities of SCC
slag mixtures were in the range of 162.5e418.2 Pa s for slag re-
placements varying from 90 to 30% as shown in Fig. 2. This clearly
show that the relation between torque and shear rate is linear and
may indicate Newtonian fluid behaviour, and the apparent plastic
viscosity decreases with the increase in slag content as shown in
Fig. 5. The obtained results are in a good agreement with earlier
study by Vejmelkova et al. (2011), where SCC containing slag
exhibited zero yield stress and higher plastic viscosity. This also
agrees well with the fact that SCC has a very low yield stress (close
to zero) while the plastic viscosity can vary significantly (Zerbino
et al., 2009). Though a correlation between yield stress and
slump flow diameter was indicated, it is not possible to qualify an
SCC based on just the measure of the slump flow (Zerbino et al.,
2009).
4.1.2. Self-compactability properties
The self-compactability properties of SCC were presented in
Figs. 6e10. Replacements of slag in high volumes had shown a
remarkable influence on the fresh SCC properties. The slump flow
results of all the SCC mixes with different slag replacements were
presented in Fig. 6. From the figure it was noticed that as the slag
replacement increases the corresponding slump flow also in-
creases. The slump flow for different slag SCC mixes varied be-
tween 640 and 795 mm; and according to EFNARC guidelines all
SCC mixtures come under the category of slump flow classes 2 and
3 (SF2 & SF3), and are generally suitable for applications such as
slabs and column construction. The slump flow of SCC100 at 30%

Fig. 3. L-box (blocking ratio) test and measurement.

Fig. 1. Test set up of ICAR rheometer.

Fig. 2. Slump flow test and measurement. Fig. 4. Torque to speed relationships of the tested SCCs.

Please cite this article in press as: Sethy, K.P., et al., Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting concrete, Journal of Cleaner
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4 K.P. Sethy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7

500 500

400 400
Plastic Viscosity (Pa.s)

Plastic Viscosity (Pa.s)

R2= 0.97

300 300

200 200

100 100
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 4 5 6 7 8 9
Slag (%) T50 (s)

Fig. 5. Variation of plastic viscosity with respect to slag replacement.

Fig. 8. Variation of plastic viscosity with respect to flow time.

850 30

800 27

R2 = 0.94
V-Funnel time (s)
Slump Flow (mm)

750 24 R2 = 0.86

700 21

650 18

600 15
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Slag (%) Slag (%)

Fig. 6. Variation of slump flow with respect to slag replacement. Fig. 9. Variation of V-funnel flow time with respect to slag replacement.

30
10

9 27
V-Funnel time (s)

8
24
R2 = 0.86
R2 = 0.97
T50 (s)

7
21

18
5

4 15
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 4 5 6 7 8 9
Slag (%) T50 (s)

Fig. 7. Variation of flow time with respect to slag replacement. Fig. 10. Variation of V-funnel flow time with respect to slump flow time.

replacement of slag was observed to be 640 mm while this could
be increased to 795 mm when the slag replacement increased
to 90%. This may be due to the fact that the agglomeration of
cement particles can be dispersed by slag particles (Nehdi et al.,
2004). When cement is being replaced by slag, it is evident
that a low amount of superplasticiser is needed and an increase in
the quantity of water is required to maintain the desired self-
compacting property as shown in Fig. 11, which is in agreement
with a similar research determined for fly ash earlier (Bouzoubaa
and Lachemi, 2001). The aggregate segregation and bleeding was
visually examined while carrying out the slump flow test. In
addition, the broken cylindrical test specimens were used to
determine the uniformity of the distribution of coarse aggregate
visually which indicate proper segregation resistance of mixtures.

Please cite this article in press as: Sethy, K.P., et al., Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting concrete, Journal of Cleaner
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 K.P. Sethy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7
2.5
2.0
1.5
HRWR (%)
R2 = 0.96
1.0
0.5
0.0
20 30 40 50 60 70
Slag (%)
Fig. 11. Relation between slag content and HRWR dosage.
4.1.2.1. T50 flow time. The measured T50 flow times were in the
range of 4.66e8.66 s. As the incorporation of slag in high volumes
in SCC mixes increases, the flow times decreases as shown in Fig. 7.
90% and 30% slag replacements exhibited the lowest and the
highest flow times. It was also observed that the values obtained
here were marginally higher than those reported in literature
(Aarre and Domone, 2003). In addition, there exists a very good
relationship between T50 and the plastic viscosity as shown in
Fig. 8.
4.1.2.2. V-funnel time. The results presented in Fig. 9 indicated that,
the V-funnel time decreases with increasing slag replacement ratio
and they were in the range of 18.9e28 s, respectively. According to
EFNARC guidelines (EFNARC, 2005), the upper limit for V-funnel
flow is 25 s. Even though the V-funnel flow time of SCC100 sur-
passed the upper limit; however, it still filled the concrete moulds
by its own weight. The results also indicated that, irrespective of
effective water cementitious materials ratio, the V-funnel time's
decreases with increasing slag content. For example, SCC20 having
a slag replacement of 90% has a V-funnel time of 18.9 s and this has
been increased to 28 s for SCC100 for slag replacement of 30%. This
supports the fact that the increase in slag made the concretes more
flowable which is in conformity with the data reported by others
previously (Guneyisi and Gesoglu, 2008). From the results it was
obvious that determining the slump flow of SCC is not adequate to
describe the fresh behaviour. A very good correlation between T50
and V-funnel flow times exists as shown in Fig. 10. A satisfactory
relationship between T50 and V-funnel times has been presented
earlier for SCC containing fly ash and Portland pozzolana cement
(Dinakar et al., 2013b).
4.1.2.3. Blocking ratio (L-box test). The L-box ratio test indicates the
passing ability of the SCC and is sensitive to blocking. The blocking
ratio of SCC mixes varied from 0.65 to 0.95 for slag replacements
varying between 30 and 90%. From the results of the blocking ratio
test, it can be observed that all the slag SCC mixtures were exhib-
iting a satisfactory blocking ratio. Even though for some of the
mixes the ratios were found to be lower than that of the EFNARC
guidelines, there was no tendency of blockage between the rebars.
This supports the view reported earlier by Felekoglu et al. (2007)
that even though the blocking ratio is greater than 0.6, SCC still
has been acknowledged to achieve good filling ability.
4.1.2.4. HRWR demand. Table 2 presents the demand of HRWR
admixture. From Fig. 11 it is evident that as the slag content
Please cite this article in press as: Sethy, K.P., et al., Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting concrete, Journal of Cleaner
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5
increases the corresponding demand for HRWR decreases for
achieving the desired self-compacting properties. This could be due
to the fact that the spherical nature of slag particles acts as a
lubricant, the HRWR used does not react with the slag particles
producing a repulsive force and finally the action of the super-
plasticizers will be only with the cement particles (Wattanalamlerd
and Ouchi, 2005). This results in less HRWR demand for large
volume of slag content used. Also the slag particles fills the space
among cement particles and makes the particle size distribution
better than the cement alone and finally making the concretes
more fluidifying at a very low superplasticizer dosages. Moreover,
the lower the dosage of superplasticizer required for high volume
replacements of slag also indicate better compatibility of slag with
the superplasticizer used.
80 90 100
4.2. Hardened properties
4.2.1. Compressive strength
Compressive strength test was performed at different ages such
as 3, 7, 28 and 90 day and the results are presented in Fig. 12. Fig. 12
shows the variation of compressive strength with respect to the age
for all percentage replacements. As expected the compressive
strength of all SCCs increased with the age of concrete. Further-
more, the inclusion of slag in SCC results in a significant improve-
ment in the strength for various replacements studied. This may be
attributed to the pozzolanic reaction of slag with the calcium hy-
droxide liberated during cement hydration. Slag being a hydraulic
material and the fineness also contributed to the strength
development.
The SCCs were designed for the 28 day target strength using the
efficiency concept proposed by the author earlier (Dinakar et al.,
2013a). The 20 & 30 MPa concrete results show that the strength
development at 90 & 80% replacements were almost similar and
both the concretes have attained their target strength at 28 days
and demonstrated much higher strengths at 90 days. Though at 7
days the SCC attained a lower strength, the strength gain rate was
similar from 28 day onwards. The strength development rate of low
strength SCCs after 28 days were generally higher. The results of the
SCC 60 MPa explains that even at a slag replacement of 60% the
strength development rate is similar to low strength SCCs (20 &
30 MPa) and attained its target strength much higher than the
desired.
The 90 MPa SCC with slag replacement of 40% has achieved a
marginally higher strength than the design strength at 28 days but
strength of 103 MPa at 90 days has been obtained. The SCC 100 MPa
with 30% slag replacement exhibited strength development rate
110
100
90
Compressive strength (MPa)
80
70
60
50
40 SCC20
30 SCC30
SCC60
20
SCC90
10
SCC100
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Age (d)
Fig. 12. Variation of compressive strength with respect to age.
6 K.P. Sethy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7

almost similar to 90 MPa, but the design target strength was ob- 1.1
tained at 90 days showing strength of 105 MPa. From the results of
high strength (90e100 MPa) slag SCCs, it is evident that the
1.0
strength development rate after 28 days were low compared to that
of low strength SCCs.

Efficiency of slag (k)

It is obvious from the above investigation that by tailoring the 0.9
replacement percentages of slag the maximum strength of SCC can
only be obtained only at a particular level of replacement. More-
over, it was observed that low strength SCCs can be developed only 0.8

at high volume slag replacements and high strength SCCs is only

possible at low percentage of replacement. Using the present
experimental data, the strengths obtained at 28 and 90 days were
plotted with respect to the slag replacement as shown in Fig. 13. It
can be seen that the variation of strengths at different probable
replacements of slag for a specific strength was very minimal. This
portrays the restrictions on the maximum replacement of slag for
any specific strength. Lastly, from the present experimental inves-
tigation the slag replacement for developing the desired strength of
SCC can easily be predicted.
5. Cementing efficiency factor of slag
Industrial wastes such as fly ash and slag when being used
in concrete the simple cement replacement methods were found
to be unsuitable. Rational methods will substitute the cement
replacement methods because rational method highlights the
importance of the properties of the industrial wastes, since they
significantly control the properties of concrete both in the fresh
and the hardened state. A rational method of incorporating slag
in concrete was established earlier by defining a term “slag
cementing efficiency factor” (k) such that the generalized water
cement ratio to strength relation for the conventional ordinary
Portland cement (OPC) concretes is also applicable for the slag
concretes wherein the cement content would be equivalent
to c þ k$g, where c and g are the cement and slag contents
respectively. This efficiency factor for slag (k) in concrete is
defined as the amount of cement that could be replaced by
the required amount of slag, without altering the compressive
strength property.
The efficiency factor (k) for slag in vibrated concretes for
replacement percentages varying between 10 and 80% was
established earlier (Babu and Kumar, 2000). The author had used
these same ‘k’ values and proposed an innovative mix design
methodology for the development of SCC with slag (Dinakar et al.,
2013a). From Fig. 14 it is obvious that as the slag replacement ratio
0.7 Literature (Normal Concrete)
Experimental (present study, SCC)
0.6
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Slag (%)
Fig. 14. Relation between cementing efficiency factor with respect to slag content.
increases the efficiency factor (k) decreases. From the same figure
it can also be seen that the overall 28 day ‘k’ values evaluated
through the present experimental investigation for all the SCCs
was also included. It can be observed that the overall efficiency
factor (k) at 28 days, as were determined for the self-compacting
slag concretes of the present experimental investigation, was in
general higher than that of the earlier established values for all the
replacements. This clearly shows that the compressive strength
properties of SCCs are superior to that of regular vibrated slag
concretes. This might be owing to the high paste volume that is
being used in developing SCC, which induces a slightly higher
deformability, as well as good homogeneity derived from
compaction free production compared with the conventional
method. The ‘k’ values obtained in the present experimental
investigation for SCCs reveals that the ‘k’ values established for the
vibrated slag concretes are no more valid for SCCs. Thus there is a
need to relook into the ‘k’ values of the SCCs separately.
The w/c ratio to compressive strength is the generalized rela-
tionship specified in all the codes. The same is applicable for the
compressive strength to effective water to cementitious materials
ratio (w/(c þ k28*g)) for SCC with slag as shown in Fig. 15. It is
obvious that lower the (w/(c þ k28*g)) ratio higher the compressive
strength and consequently the strengths of SCC mixes with higher
slag content can easily be determined. In addition, most of the
strength results obtained here was within the range for SCC
mentioned earlier (Domone, 2007).

110
110
100
28 day Compressive strength (MPa)

100
90
Compressive strength (MPa)

90
80
80
70
70 60
R2 = 0.97
60 50

50 40

40 28 d 30

30 90 d 20

20 10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Slag (%) effective water to cementitious materials ratio w/(c+k28*g)

Fig. 13. Maximum replacement percentage possible with respect to slag content. Fig. 15. Relation between compressive strength and w/(c þ k28*g).

Please cite this article in press as: Sethy, K.P., et al., Utilization of high volume of industrial slag in self compacting concrete, Journal of Cleaner
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 K.P. Sethy et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2015) 1e7
6. Conclusions
Five SCC mixes incorporating different proportions of industrial
slag were prepared by using a specific mix methodology and tested
for rheological, self-compactability and strength properties. The
incorporation of industrial slag in high volumes was found to be
highly beneficial in improving the self-compactability and rheo-
logical properties of self-compacting concrete. Based on the results
derived in this investigation the following conclusions can be
drawn:
 All the high volume slag SCCs has satisfied the EFNARC regula-
tions in terms of the fresh properties. The developed SCCs were
having good flowability, passing ability and highly resistant to
segregation.
 The experimental investigations on SCC with slag using the
earlier established cementing efficiency factors show that lower
strengths such as 20 & 30 MPa can easily be produced at a slag
replacement of about 80e90%, while high strengths of about
60e100 MPa can be developed with 30e60% slag replacement.
 The cementing efficiency factors obtained for slag in SCCs in the
present investigation are higher than the traditional vibrated
slag concrete for the same replacements established earlier
(Babu and Kumar, 2000). This shows that the pozzolanic effect of
slag in SCCs appears to be high and the fineness also contributed
to the strength development.
 The addition of slag in high volumes decreased the demand of
HRWR in SCC mixes. As the slag content increased from 30 to
90% the HRWR demand decreased significantly from 2.2% to
0.3%.
 As far as the rheological properties are concerned the plastic
viscosity decreased as the percentage of slag was increased from
30 to 90%, but all the mixes exhibited a similar yield stress value
of nearly zero. The measured plastic viscosities of SCC slag
mixtures were in the range of 162.5e418.2 Pa s for slag re-
placements varying from 90 to 30%.
 The compressive strength values reveal that it is possible to
develop wide spectrum of concretes from 20 to 100 MPa by
varying the replacements of slag between 90 and 30%. Low
strength SCCs can be developed at very high volume re-
placements whereas high strength SCCs can be developed at low
volume replacements as observed in this study.
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