Characterisation of electric arc furnace slags as concrete aggregate in a small island developing state: A preliminary study

With boulders being scarce as more rock quarrying is carried out, alternate sources of aggregates need to be sought. This research was conducted as a preliminary study to assess the feasibility of using slag from electric arc furnace (EAF) as aggregate in concrete. The physical as well as chemical properties of both types of EAF slags namely black and dense slag (BDS) and light and porous slag (LPS) were assessed. The results indicated that the chemical compositions were considerably different from literature values while the physical properties demonstrated that BDS, having water absorption of 0.81%, aggregate crushing value of 16.04%, aggregate impact value of 11.13% and abrasion of Los-Angeles of 22.43% was suitable to be employed as aggregate in cement-based applications compared to LPS and natural aggregates.