The influence of air cooled blast furnace slag (ACBFS) aggregate on the concentration of sulfates in concrete's pore solution

This study evaluates changes in chemical composition of artificial pore solutions (APSs), representing the actual pore solutions of plain, binary, and ternary cementitious systems, resulting from contact of APSs with air cooled blast furnace slag (ACBFS) aggregate. The maximum increase in the sulfate concentration of APSs was 12.23 and 16.87 mmol/L for, respectively, the coarse and crushed ACBFS aggregate. More than 40% of the total sulfate released by ACBFS aggregate occurred within the first 3 days of contact with APSs. After 28 days of contact with ACBFS aggregates, the pore solution of plain cement paste had the highest sulfate concentration.