Effects of Slag Addition and Mechanical Pre-Processing on the Properties of Recycled Concrete in Terms of Compressive Strength and Workability

Concrete waste as crushed concrete aggregates (CCA) in structural concrete prolongs the technical life of the reference concrete accomplishing closed loop recycling. CCA concrete reaches the reference concrete compressive strength and workability by the densification of CCA and cement paste. Our previous study demonstrates CCA densification by mechanical pre-processing, aggregate quality improvements discerned by increased packing density giving reference concrete strength and workability. This study addresses paste densification with blast furnace slag (GGBS) to replace 30 (wt.%) of Portland cement at reference concrete w/b ratio 0.5 and a lower w/b 0.42. Two CCA replacements are investigated: fine aggregates, CCA50; overall aggregate replacement, CCA100.

Compressive strength results show that both CCA50, CCA100 mixes achieve reference values at w/b 0.42, only CCA100 achieves reference value at w/b 0.5 as a climate-optimized concrete. The CCA50 mix-w/b 0.5 reaches reference strength when paste densification by GGBS is combined with CCA densification from mechanical pre-processing of aggregates. The 7-day strength of CCA100 with GGBS increases by 11% by mixing with pre-soaked GGBS. Statistical analysis of CCA100 strength results shows significant improvements with GGBS compared to mechanical pre-processing. Significant improvements are possible in CCA50 mix for a combination of mechanical pre-processed aggregates and GGBS replacement.