Influence of recycled concrete aggregates on the engineering and durability properties of alkali activated slag concrete

The environmental effects of production of cement have provoked to examine the growth of concrete with 100% replacement of cement with materials which are activated by alkali solutions. Alkali activated slag (AAS) concrete is eco-friendly and potentially deemed to be a division of sustainable process. As majority of the volume of concrete is consumed by aggregates, there is a necessary to decrease the utilization of natural aggregates resulting in reduction of exploiting natural resources and effective utilization of construction and demolition waste. The effect of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) on the engineering and durability properties of alkali activated slag concrete (AASC) under ambient curing state has been investigated in this paper. Since, very few works were carried in the field of alkali activated slag concrete curing under ambient temperature state and the utilization of recycled aggregates, an investigation was performed in AASC mixes with varying RCA fraction to study their influence on strength (compressive, splitting tensile and flexural) and durability (absorption, sorptivity, chloride and sulphate exposure) properties of AASC. The outcome of the results concludes that the addition of RCA has no signification reduction in the properties of alkali activated slag concrete.