Property Comparison of Alkali-Activated Carbon Steel Slag (CSS) and Stainless Steel Slag (SSS) and Role of Blast Furnace Slag (BFS) Chemical Composition

In order to compare the properties of alkali-activated carbon steel slag (CSS) and stainless steel slag (SSS), the effects of sodium hydroxide/sodium silicate solution mass ratio (NH/NS), liquid/solid ratio and blast furnace slag (BFS) dosage on the compressive strength, hydration products and hydration degree of CSS and SSS were studied. Furthermore, a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermo-gravimetric analysis coupled with differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) were used to characterize the morphology and structure of alkali-activated CSS-BFS and SSS-BFS cementitious materials. As the results revealed, the primary hydrate of alkali-activated CSS and SSS is C-(A)-S-H with Q(2) [SiO(4)] units, which has a low Ca/Si ratio and includes inert phases like a CaO-FeO-MnO-MgO solid solution (RO) in CSS while cuspidine, magnesiochromite etc. in SSS. More active C(3)S and β-C(2)S promote the alkali activation of CSS, whereas the less active γ-C(2)S hinders the depolymerization of SSS. The incorporation of BFS does not change the hydrate, whose seed effect is helpful for accelerating the depolymerization and polycondensation of CSS and SSS, especially for SSS, and makes the hydrate increase significantly. Owing to the high SiO(2) and Al(2)O(3) contents of SSS, the C-(A)-S-H chain length is increased, thus facilitating the polycondensation effect. In this study, the optimal NH/NS of CSS and SSS is NH/NS= 1:2, and the optimal liquid/solid ratio is 0.29. Compared to CSS–BFS, the C-(A)-S-H gel produced by SSS–BFS has lower Ca/Si and Al/Si ratios. Unlike CSS, pure SSS is inappropriate as an alkali-activated precursor and needs to be co-activated with BFS.