Hydration properties of basic oxygen furnace steel slag

Basic oxygen furnace steel slag is the most common steel slag in China. In this study, the hydration properties of this kind of steel slag were investigated. Steel slag was ground separately to 458 m2/kg as well as 506 m2/kg. Different hydration conditions were set by changing the temperature or pH value. Hydration exothermic rate was measured within 4 days. Non-evaporable water content, hydration products and hardened paste morphologies were investigated at 1, 3, 7, 28 and 90 days. The results showed that the hydration process of steel slag was similar with that of cement. However, its hydration rate was much lower than cement. The hydration rate of steel slag at the early age could be accelerated by raising the fineness of particles, curing temperature or alkalinity of solution. However, raising the pH value of solution had little efficiency for the later hydration of steel slag and raising curing temperature even had negative influence on its later hydration. CSH gel and Ca(OH)2 were the main hydration products of steel slag. A part of C3S and C2S crystal in steel slag had very low activity and unhydrated after 90 days. RO phase was almost inert. The interface between the particles of RO phase and CSH gel was a weak region in the system.