Cementitious Properties and Microstructure of An Innovative Slag Eco-Binder

Materials and Structures
DOI 10.1617/s11527-015-0630-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Cementitious properties and microstructure

of an innovative slag eco-binder
Nguyen Tien Dung . Ta-Peng Chang . Chun-Tao Chen .
Tzong-Ruey Yang
Received: 1 October 2013 / Accepted: 11 May 2015

RILEM 2015
Abstract Circulating fluidized bed combustion fly

ash was used to activate the hydration of ground
granulated blast furnace slag to produce non-cement
SCA eco-binder without Portland cement (OPC). The
engineering properties of SCA paste and mortar with
air or water curing were evaluated. The microstructure
and hydration products of the SCA binder were
investigated by scanning electron microscope, and
X-ray diffraction. The hydration products of SCA
were ettringite (AFt), calcium silicate hydrate (CS
H) and calcium aluminate silicate hydrate (CASH)
so that the SCA paste had proper setting times, dense
microstructure and high strength. The compressive
strengths of SCA pastes and mortars reached up to
70 MPa at 28 days and even higher at longer ages. The
early expansion of SCA paste and mortar due to the
AFt formation compensated for their drying shrinkage
to lead to a very low ultimate shrinkage. The SCA
binder is a promising alternative to OPC.
Keywords Eco-binder Slag CFBC fly ash
Compressive strength Drying shrinkage
N. T. Dung (&) T.-P. Chang C.-T. Chen T.-R. Yang

Department of Civil and Construction Engineering,
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology,
(Taiwan Tech), Taipei 106, Taiwan
e-mail: tiendung568@gmail.com
1 Introduction
Since the development of ordinary Portland cement
(OPC) has been over 175 years, it has become the
dominant binder used in concrete for construction. The
annual global cement production has reached 2.8 billion tonnes nowadays, and is expected to increase to
4 billion tonnes. [23]. However, the OPC production
has a large environmental impact [3]. It contributes
approximately 58 % of global CO2 emissions [20, 30,
31, 35] and is always among the largest emissions
sources [4]. In addition, the process always involves
the destruction of natural quarries and energy consumption to extract raw materials. It is reported that the
manufacturing of OPC consumes 27803050 TWh of
energy annually, approximately 23 % of global
primary energy use [18]. Hence, there is a great need
for alternative green binders in construction to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and save energy and natural
resources. For this purpose, blended cements, in which
a portion of OPC is replaced by industrial waste
materials with pozzolanic properties, such as fly ash
from coal combustion or slag from iron production, are
used as binders for concrete. The pozzolanic properties
of fly ash, slag and metakaolin are due to the presence
of large quantities of reactive SiO2 and Al2O3. They
react with the Ca(OH)2, liberated during the hydration
of OPC to form calcium silicate hydrates (CSH) and
calcium aluminate silicate hydrates (CASH) phases, and give strength for blended cement materials [13,
32]. However, because the OPC is typically replaced
by about 10 to 50 % in blended cement [18, 36], it just

reduced CO2 emission by 1322 % [30]. Moreover, the
replacement of fly ash/slag causes lower strength at
early ages [16]. On the other hand, although alkalineactivated binder satisfies mechanical properties [5], it
is limited by some inherent problems such as rapid and
unsteady setting, cracking due to high shrinkage, and
huge energy consumption due to specific curing
requirement [21]. Therefore, there is a great need for
alternative eco-binders which only utilize common
industrial wastes. The environmental benefit for such
eco-binder is twofold; an alleviation of the environmental impacts during the manufacturing process of
OPC, and a reduction of the cost for buildings and
landfill sites. Among various industrial wastes, the
circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) fly ash is
a by-product fly ash resulting from CFBC technology
in thermal power plants. It becomes abundant worldwide due to great advantages of applying CFBC
technology. However, CA particles are mainly coarse,
non-spherical, irregular [11] and have higher loss on
ignition, which may lead to high water demand [14]. In
addition, CA pastes exhibit a considerable amount of
expansion due to molar volumetric change. The
presence of calcium sulfate within Portland cement
or fly ash concrete can also result in additional
expansion due to formation of the ettringite (AFt) [9].
Furthermore, CA does not meet the specified requirements of ASTM 618 to qualify as Class C or Class F fly
ashes [10]. Therefore, to date, it is mostly disposed for
landfills [26] and might induce environmental problems, such as the contamination of groundwater and
surface waters, and the decreases of available landfill
sites [22, 33].
For these above-mentioned reasons, this research
developed an innovative eco-binder, named as SCA
binder, which only comprised the ground granulated
blast furnace (GGBF) slag (S), a by-product during the
iron production, and the CFBC fly ash (CA), a byproduct during the coal combustion, without adding
any OPC. The engineering properties of paste and
mortar made by such SCA binder with different
combination ratios of slag and CA with air or water
curing were examined for 91 days. In addition, to
evaluate the hydration products and reactivity
mechanism of SCA binder, X-ray diffraction (XRD)
and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) were carried out
on SCA pastes. Moreover, the microstructure of SCA
paste and mortar was examined by Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) micrographs. The experimental

results from this study show that the SCA binder is a
promising alternative to OPC with adequate engineering properties such as proper setting times, sufficient
high strength and less drying shrinkage, and suitable
for construction applications.
2 Research significance
This study involves an innovative cementitious SCA
binder simply made of two industrial wastes, ground
granulated blast furnace slag (S) and circulating
fluidized bed combustion fly ash (CA) without OPC
to manufacture various mixtures of pastes and mortars.
Experimental results clearly show that the SCA binder
is appropriate for practical construction with adequate
strengths and resistance to shrinkage. Therefore, it is
likely to replace some of the OPC. In addition, this
study examines the microstructure of the SCA binder
and proposes mechanisms associated with the properties investigated. The outcome of this study are useful
for further researches on this promising SCA ecobinder in the future. Furthermore, the use of S and CA
by-products to produce S eco-binder plays a pivotal
role to reduce environmental impacts, save natural
resources and create green materials.
3 Materials and testing methods

3.1 Materials
The fineness and chemical compositions of GGBF slag
and CA used in this experiment are shown in Table 1.
The XRD patterns in Fig. 1 indicate that the GGBF
slag is amorphous without clear peaks. Major mineralogical compositions of CA are anhydrite (CaSO4),
portlandite (Ca(OH)2), lime (CaO) and quartz (SiO2).
The presence of Ca(OH)2 is attributed to the reaction
between the free CaO in CA and moisture in air during
the storage. The alkalinity can break down glassy
structure of slag and react with the dissolved oxides of
slag and form hydration products to give strength.
The solution extracted from a pure CA paste with
water/CA of 0.40 was diluted by 1:100 using distilled
water and then measured for pH. The pH value of the
extracted solution is calculated as high as 12.5.

Table 1 Physical and chemical compositions of slag and CA
GGFB slag
CA
2.83
2.47
6000
3000
3.2 Testing program

3.2.1 Specimen preparations
Physical properties
Specific gravity
Blaine fineness (cm2/g)
Chemical compositions (%)
The engineering properties of the fine aggregates

used for the mortar tests are presented in Table 2. A
polycarboxylate superplasticizer (SP) was used to
obtain proper workability for SCA pastes and mortars.
Loss of ignition
4.72
SiO2
34.9
5.22
Al2O3
13.53
2.21
CaO
41.47
56.80
MgO
7.18
2.06
SO3
1.74
32.40
0.65
Fe2O3
0.52
0.581
Based on the preliminary studies, a total of six mix

proportions of SCA pastes including three different
CA/binder ratios and two different W/B ratios were
tested in addition to the pure slag and pure CA pastes.
The mix proportions are shown in Table 3.
Furthermore, a total of 18 mix proportions of SCA
mortars including two different W/B ratios and three
different CA/binder ratios were selected. These SCA
mortars used 5060 % fine aggregates by volume and
their mix proportions are shown in Table 4.
The specimens of SCA pastes and mortars were cast
in cubic molds of 50 9 50 9 50 mm for the compressive strength test. They were also cast in prismatic
molds of 25 9 25 9 285 mm for expansion/shrinkage test. Those specimens were de-molded after 24 h
of casting and then were equally divided into two
groups. The first group was cured in water with
temperature of 25 2 C, whereas the other group
was cured in air with relative humidity of 65 5 %
RH and temperature of 25 2 C.
3.2.2 Test methods
(a)
Fig. 1 XRD patterns of GGBF slag and CA
(b)
Table 2 Properties of fine aggregate

Fine aggregate
Specific gravity
2.65
Fineness modulus
2.64
Water absorption (%)
1.65
(c)
(d)
Setting time test

Vicat needle tests in according to ASTM C 191
[1] were conducted to determine the setting
time. In this study, penetration tests were
performed at regular time intervals of 10 min
until the final setting.
Compressive strength test
The compressive strength of the SCA pastes and
mortars were tested in according to ASTM C
109 [6] at the ages of 7, 28, 56 and 91 days.
Expansion/Shrinkage test
The expansion/shrinkage of the SCA pastes and
mortars were tested in accordance with ASTM
C 1148 [2] for 91 days.
SEM/EDX observations
The sample for SEM observations was dried at

Table 3 Mixture proportions and setting times of pastes
Mixture
Binders
W/
B
CA (kg/
m3)
Slag (kg/
m3)
Water (kg/
m3)
SP (kg/
m3)
Setting times (h)

Initial
setting
Final
setting
P15 W/B0.35
15 %CA ? 85 %
slag
0.35
209
1183
485
2.51
6.2
11.6
P20 W/B0.35
20 %CA ? 80 %
slag
25 % CA ? 75 %
slag
0.35
277
1110
483
2.50
6.3
11.6
0.35
346
1037
481
2.49
6.9
12.6
P25 W/B0.35
P0 W/B0.40
100 % slag
0.40
0.00
1314
524
1.05
34.3
54.3
P15 W/B0.40
15 % CA ? 85 %
slag
0.40
195
1106
519
1.04
6.3
12.6
P20 W/B0.40
20 % CA ? 80 %
slag
0.40
259
1037
517
1.04
6.0
13.8
P25 W/B0.40
25 % CA ? 75 %
slag
0.40
323
969
516
1.03
5.9
13.6
P100 W/
B0.40
100 % CA
0.40
1230
0.00
490
1.72
(e)
60 C for 24 h. Afterwards, they were mounted

into aluminum stubs by double-sided adhesive
carbon disks and coated with gold before the
SEM observations. The instrument used for
SEM was a JSM-6390LV microscope equipped
with an OXFORD INCAX-7060 Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometer.
XRD analyses
The SCA paste was ground until all passed
through the 75 lm sieve and then was dried at
60 C for 24 h. The dried sample was prepared
for XRD analysis by a D2-phaser X-ray diffractometer with Cu Ka radiation. Step scan was
performed in the range of 555 (2h) with a
stepping interval of 0.02 and a duration of
0.1 s.
4 Results and discussion

4.1 SCA pastes
can set easily. This is attributed to the portlandite

released from CA-water system breaks down and
dissolves glassy structure of slag [12] and then reacts
with the dissolved alumina and silica of slag to form
hydration products. As a result, the SCA pastes can set
and give strength. In general, the initial and final
setting times of the SCA paste are around 67 and
11.513.5 h, respectively. The long setting times of
SCA paste is attributed to slow hydration rate of CA
particles. The surface of CA particles is often covered
by CaSO4 layers, preventing the transport of H2O
molecules [25, 33] to result in the slow hydration rate
of CA. Therefore, the chemical reactions between the
hydrated CA products and the hydrated slag products
are delayed and the setting times of the SCA paste are
longer than those of the OPC paste.
These longer setting times of SCA paste might be
related to the use of SP, as mentioned by Singh et al.
[27]. For this reason, the initial setting of SCA pastes
with W/B of 0.35 is longer than that with W/B of 0.40
because the pastes with W/B of 0.35 used higher SP
amount than those with W/B of 0.40 (Table 3).
4.1.1 Setting time tests of SCA pastes

4.1.2 Compressive strength of SCA pastes
The setting times of the pure slag, pure CA and SCA
pastes were presented in Table 3. The pure slag paste
is hard to set due to its glassy structure. However, the
SCA pastes utilizing 7585 % slag and 2515 % CA
The compressive strengths of SCA pastes with W/B of

0.35 and 0.40 are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The results
indicate that the pure slag or pure CA pastes give

Table 4 Mix proportions of SCA mortars
Slag (kg/m3)
Fine aggregate
(kg/m3)
SP (kg/m3)
Water
(kg/m3)
99
562
1325
0.20
231
55
87
502
1458
0.59
206
60
78
442
1590
1.04
181
20
50
132
527
1325
0.20
230
0.35
20
55
118
471
1458
0.88
205
0.35
0.35
20
25
60
50
104
164
415
492
1590
1325
1.30
0.20
180
229
W/B0.35CA25S55
0.35
25
55
147
440
1458
0.59
205
W/B0.35CA25S60
0.35
25
60
129
387
1590
1.03
180
W/B0.40CA15S50
0.40
15
50
93
525
1325
0.19
247
W/B0.40CA15S55
0.40
15
55
83
469
1458
0.55
220
W/B0.40CA15S60
0.40
15
60
73
413
1590
0.97
193
W/B0.40CA20S50
0.40
20
50
123
492
1325
0.18
246
W/B0.40CA20S55
0.40
20
55
110
440
1458
0.82
219
W/B0.40CA20S60
0.40
20
60
97
388
1590
1.21
193
W/B0.40CA25S50
0.40
25
50
153
460
1325
0.18
245
W/B0.40CA25S55
0.40
25
55
137
411
1458
0.82
218
W/B0.40CA25S60
0.40
25
60
121
362
1590
0.97
192
Mixture
W/B
CA/
(CA ? slag) (%)
Volume
of fine
aggregate
(%)
W/B0.35CA15S50
0.35
15
50
W/B0.35CA15S55
0.35
15
W/B0.35CA15S60
0.35
15
W/B0.35CA20S50
0.35
W/B0.35CA20S55
W/B0.35CA20S60
W/B0.35CA25S50
CA (kg/m3)
compressive strengths less than 7 MPa (Fig. 3a).

However, the SCA pastes with both slag and CA
produce high compressive strengths. In particular, the
compressive strength of the SCA pastes ranges from
about 40 to 70 MPa at 28 days and even higher at
longer ages. It is evident that the CA plays an
important role as an activator. The CA as small as
15 % by mass can produce alkaline environment to
break down glassy structure of slag. As a consequence,
the portlandite of CA-water system can react with the
dissolved alumina and silica of slag to generate new
hydration products which produce high strengths of
SCA pastes. In general, the compressive strength of
SCA paste increases with age. The rate of strength
gain is high at early ages and gradually decreases at
later ages.
The compressive strength of the SCA paste decreases as the W/B increases. In particular, as the W/B
increases from 0.35 to 0.40, the compressive strength
of the SCA paste decreases by about 10 to 20 MPa.
This could be related to the fact that higher W/B leads
to more free water and more porous microstructure in
the SCA paste so that the compressive strength of SCA
paste with high W/B is less than that with low W/B.
The curing condition also affects the compressive

strength of the SCA paste. The water curing seems not
good for the compressive strength of SCA paste at
early ages, especially for those with 25 % CA. The
results demonstrate that, in most cases, the early
compressive strengths of specimens cured in water are
lower than those cured in air. This could be attributed
to abundant AFt formation during the CA hydration in
those specimens with water curing at early ages [25].
As a result, the AFt expansion occurs considerably at
early ages. By the time, the strength of specimens is
small so that micro-cracks occur and the compressive
strength is reduced. However, these micro-cracks may
allow water to come in contact easily with the CA
particles. Therefore, the hydration products are easily
produced in water than in air. Accordingly, at later
ages, these hydration products fill the cracks and
increase the strength. The AFt expansion becomes
harmless at this time because the specimens have
gained sufficient strength. Therefore, although the
compressive strengths of the SCA pastes cured in
water are lower than those cured in air at early ages,
they reach the same or even higher strengths than those
cured in air in the long term.

Fig. 2 Compressive
strength of SCA pastes with
W/B of 0.35
(a) Air curing
(b) Water curing
Fig. 3 Compressive
strength of SCA pastes with
W/B of 0.4
(a) Air curing
4.1.3 Expansion/shrinkage of SCA pastes

The expansion/shrinkage behavior of the SCA
paste is illustrated in Fig. 4. The results demonstrate that the CA content and curing condition
highly affect the expansion/shrinkage behavior of
the SCA paste.
With water curing, the SCA paste strongly expands
at early ages and then gradually become stable at
longer ages. Figure 4 clearly shows that the amount of
CA greatly affects the expansion of SCA paste. In
particular, higher CA amount results in higher expansion, especially when CA is larger than 20 %. During
the first 4 days, the SCA pastes with 15 % CA
(P15 W/B0.35 and P15 W/B0.40) and 20 % CA
(P20 W/B0.35 and P20 W/B0.40) expand to about
(b) Water curing

100 9 10-6 m/m and 200 9 10-6 m/m, respectively
and become steady afterwards. On the other hand,
during the first 42 days, the SCA pastes with 25 % CA
(P25 W/B0.35 and P25 W/B0.40) quickly expand to
around 400 9 10-6 m/m and then gradually stable.
The drastic expansion of SCA paste with high CA
content is attributed to larger AFt expansion [34] due
to the hydration of CA containing high content of
CaSO4 and CaO (Fig. 1). The water curing is also
beneficial to the expansion of AFt because CA can
absorb water easily [19, 25]. As a result, the pastes
with 25 % CA cured in water give large expansion.
The W/B slightly affects the expansion of SCA
paste cured in water. Higher W/B results in higher
expansion, especially for specimens with 25 % CA
(P25 W/B0.40). This phenomenon may be related to
the fact that higher W/B specimens have porous

microstructures, resulting in opening spaces for the
hydration of CA and the expansion due to the AFt
formation.
By contrast, with air curing, the SCA paste expands
during the first few days and then shrinks afterwards. It
can be seen that the early expansion of the SCA paste
compensates for its later drying shrinkage. The highest
expansion is nearly 100 9 10-6 m/m for specimens
with both W/B ratios. The SCA paste shrinks soon
after expansion. The drying shrinkage increases with
time and the rate of drying shrinkage decreases rapidly
with time. The drying shrinkage seems to be constant
after 21 days of exposure. The test data indicate that
higher amount of CA results in lower drying shrinkage
with the exception of the SCA paste with 20 % CA and
W/B of 0.35 (P20 W/B0.35), which has lower
shrinkage than that of the SCA paste with 25 % CA

and W/B of 0.35 (P25 W/B0.35). This might be
attributed to the fact that higher expansion resulted
from higher CA amount (as explained above) compensates for drying shrinkage more effectively. After
91 days of exposure, the largest shrinkage (about
-200 9 10-6 m/m) and the smallest shrinkage (about
-100 9 10-6 m/m) were observed in the SCA paste
with 15 % CA and W/B of 0.40 (P15 W/B0.40) and
that with 20 % CA and W/B of 0.40 (P20 W/B0.35),
respectively.
The SCA paste cured in air simultaneously expands
and shrinks so that the expansion is small and only
occurs in a few days at the beginning. Therefore, there
is no clear influence of the W/B on the expansion/
shrinkage behavior of SCA paste cured in air.
4.1.4 SEM observations of SCA pastes
100
P15W/B0.35
P20W/B0.35
P25W/B0.35
P15W/B0.40
P20W/B0.40
P25W/B0.40
Length change (10 -6 m/m)
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
-250
0
20
40
60
80
Time of exposure (days)
100
(a) Air curing

700
P15W/B0.35
P20W/B0.35
P25W/B0.35
Length change (10-6 m/m)
600
P15W/B0.40
P20W/B0.40
P25W/B0.40
500
400
300
200
The SEM images in Fig. 5 show that the hydration

products of the pure slag paste do not have good
bonding capability due to many interior pores
(Fig. 5a). The pure CA paste also has similar poor
microstructure (Fig. 5b). This is the reason why the
pure slag and pure CA paste only produce very small
compressive strengths at all ages. However, the SCA
pastes produce more hydration products being bonded
together to form a continuous solid phase, acting like
cement (Fig. 5c, d, e). This might be the main reason
why the SCA paste has satisfactory cementitious
property.
The microstructure of SCA paste with 20 % CA
and W/B of 0.40 (P20 W/B0.40) (Fig. 5d) exhibits
the most compact matrix among the SCA pastes
with W/B of 0.40 cured in air. It is consistent with
the fact that the highest compressive strength at
91 days was observed in the P20 W/B0.40 paste. In
contrast, the lowest compressive strength of the
SCA paste with 25 % CA and W/B of 0.40
(P25 W/B0.40) paste could be attributed to its
porous microstructure (Fig. 5e).
4.1.5 Hydration products of SCA pastes
100
0
0
20
40
60
80
(b) Water curing

Fig. 4 Length change of SCA pastes
100
The hydration products of SCA binder were investigated by SEM/EDX and XRD, and the results are
shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. The SEM results
show that the SCA paste generates several hydrated
phases bonded together and thus the SCA paste has
Fig. 5 SEM micrographs of pastes cured in air at 91 days
self-cementitious properties. In Fig. 6, the intensities

of diffraction peaks for all hydration products increase
with age, explaining that the increase of hydration
products leads to the increase in strength and expansion with time. However, the increasing rate is fast at
the first 7 days and then slow afterwards, explaining
why its increase in strength and expansion is fast at
early ages and gradually slows down at longer ages. In
addition, the XRD results indicate that the diffraction
peaks of hydration products are more intensified in
water than in air. This ought to result in higher
compressive strength of the SCA pastes cured in water
than those cured in air. However, at early ages, the
larger AFt expansion of specimens cured in water
causes lower compressive strength. Therefore, the
SCA paste cured in water has lower strength at early
ages but obtains equivalent or higher strength at later
ages than the SCA paste cured in air, as mentioned in
Sect. 4.1.2.
The hydration products of CA contain gypsum
(CaSO.42H2O) and portlandite (Ca(OH)2). The gypsum is attributed to the hydration of the anhydrite
(CaSO4) in CA, whereas the portlandite is attributed to

the hydration of free-CaO [15]. The solution from the
CA-water system is a strong alkaline solution with pH
of 12.5 (as reported in Sect. 3.1) so that it is able to
dissolve the active Al2O3 and SiO2 of slag [7, 12, 24].
Thus, in the SCA paste, the Ca(OH)2 of CA-water
system could react with the active Al2O3 dissolved
from slag. As a consequence, the AFt observed in
SEM images (Fig. 5) and in XRD patterns (Fig. 6) is
formed due to the reaction, as shown in Eq. (1) [25]:
3Ca(OH)2 3CaSO4 2H2 O Al2 O3 23H2 O
Ca6 Al2 SO4 3 OH)12 26H2 O(AFt)
1
The AFt is very important for the hardening and the
compressive strength development of the SCA paste at
early stage [8, 25]. The XRD results indicate that the
diffraction peaks of AFt are higher for specimens
cured in water than in air, causing higher expansion, as
seen in Fig. 4a and b.
Moreover, at high pH, the Ca(OH)2 from CA-water
system could react with the active SiO2 dissolved from
Fig. 6 XRD patterns of

SCA paste with 20 % CA
and W/B of 0.35 (P20 W/
B0.35)
(a) Air curing
(b) Water curing

Table 5 Proportions of
components analyzed by
EDX
Location
Elements
Si/Ca
Al/Ca
Ca (%)
Si (%)
Al (%)
O (%)
1 (Fig. 5c)
33.06
19.12
7.20
40.62
0.57
0.22
2 (Fig. 5c)
31.12
19.37
7.64
41.87
0.62
0.25
3 (Fig. 5d)
4 (Fig. 5d)
27.16
25.45
14.65
16.83
11.26
6.55
46.93
51.17
0.54
0.66
0.41
0.26
5 (Fig. 5e)
36.09
17.32
6.04
40.56
0.48
0.17
slag to generate calcium silicate hydrate (CSH), as

shown in Eq. (2) [25]:
xCa(OH)2 SiO2 y xH2 O Cx SHy CSH
2
The CSH is very important for the later strength
development of the SCA paste. However, CSH is
difficult to be found in XRD patterns because of its
amorphous structures [14, 25]. Moreover, calcium
alumina silicate hydrates (CASH) is produced
from the crystallization process of the dissolved
alumina and the silica in slag. The XRD results
indicate the existence of CASH (CA2S6H8) in the
SCA paste.
Several locations of the SCA pastes were investigated for their composition by EDX. The EDX results
shown in Table 5 identify the atomic ratio of Si/Ca
ranging from 0.48 to 0.66 and the Al/Ca ranging from
0.17 to 0.41. The locations 1, 2, 4 and 5 with the Si/Ca
from 0.48 to 0.66 and the Al/Ca from 0.17 to 0.26
contain CSH phases [17, 28, 29], whereas the
location 3 with the Si/Ca of 0.54 and Al/Ca of 0.41
contains CASH phase.
4.2 SCA mortars
4.2.1 Compressive strength of SCA mortars
The compressive strengths of SCA mortars with W/B
of 0.35 and 0.40 are presented in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively. The results indicate that it is feasible to
produce the SCA mortar with a compressive strength
ranging from 45 to 70 MPa at 28 days. The compressive strength of the SCA mortar decreases as the W/B
increases. In most cases, as the W/B increases from
0.35 to 0.40, the compressive strength of SCA mortar
decreases by about 10 MPa.
Similar to the SCA paste, the compressive strength

of SCA mortar increases with age. The rate of strength
gain is high at early ages and gradually decreases at
later ages. However, unlike the SCA paste, the water
curing does not adversely affect the compressive
strength of SCA mortar at early ages. This might be
due to the fact that the fine aggregates can resist the
large deformation caused by AFt. In most cases, the
compressive strength of specimens cured in water is
similar to those cured in air.
The results in Figs. 7 and 8 suggest that, to obtain
high compressive strength, the fine aggregate of the
SCA mortar with W/B of 0.35 should not exceed 55 %
by volume. In contrast, with W/B of 0.40, the fine
aggregates should not be less than 55 % by volume.
It is worth of noting that, in most cases, the
compressive strength of SCA mortar is equivalent
or even higher than that of the SCA paste with the
same W/B. It is evident that the bonding capability
between fine aggregates and the SCA paste is quite
adequate.
4.2.2 Expansion/Shrinkage of SCA mortars
The expansion/shrinkage behavior of SCA mortars are
shown in Fig. 9. The results indicate that the CA
content and curing condition significantly influence
the expansion/shrinkage behavior of the SCA mortar.
Similar to the SCA paste, the SCA mortar cured in
water expands with time, and the expansion rate
decreases rapidly with time, especially after 7 days
(Fig. 9b). It is consistent with the fact that the AFt
formation slows down after 7 days (Fig. 6). For SCA
mortar, the rate of expansion is similar, but not as
rapid as that of the SCA paste. The fine aggregate
resists the expansion of the SCA paste so that the
expansion of SCA mortar is less than that of the SCA
(a) Air curing
(b) Water curing

Fig. 7 Compressive strength of SCA mortars with W/B of 0.35
paste when compared at the same W/B. The amount of

expansion is constant after 21 days. With the same
W/B and volume of fine aggregate, the SCA mortars
with 25 % CA give expansion about 80 9 10-6 m/m
higher than that of those with 20 % CA. The
expansion is related to the AFt formation caused by
the presence of CaSO4 in CA (as explained in Sect.

4.1.5) so that higher CA amount results in higher
expansion of the SCA paste and mortar.
Because the expansion of SCA mortars with
20 % CA is low (less than 100 9 10-6 m/m), the
effect of the W/B and the volume of fine aggregate
(a) Air curing
(b) Water curing

Fig. 8 Compressive strength of SCA mortars with W/B of 0.4
on the expansion of SCA mortars with 20 % CA is

not clear. However, for the SCA mortars with 25 %
CA, higher volume of fine aggregate shows higher
restraining effect on the expansion of SCA mortar.
Thus, after 91 days of expansion, the highest
expansion (about 150 9 10-6 m/m) and the lowest
expansion (about 60 9 10-6 m/m) of SCA mortars
were observed in W/B0.40CA25S50 (W/B of 0.40,

25 % CA and 50 % fine aggregates by volume) and
W/B0.40CA20S60 (W/B of 0.40, 20 % CA and
60 % fine aggregates by volume), respectively, as
seen in Fig. 9b.
With air curing, the SCA mortar simultaneously
expands and shrinks so that their expansion is not
clear. The results show that the SCA mortars with

25 % CA only expand on the first day and then shrink
afterwards, while the SCA mortars with 20 % CA
shrink right after it was exposed to air (Fig. 9a). The
early expansion of SCA mortars with 25 % CA
compensates for their later drying shrinkage so that
their drying shrinkage is less than that of those mortars
with 20 % CA.
Fig. 9 Length change of

SCA mortars
Similar to the SCA paste, the shrinkage rate of SCA

mortar is high at early ages and gradually decreases at
longer ages. The drying shrinkage of the SCA mortar
is roughly constant after 28 days of exposure. Because
the drying shrinkage of SCA mortar is minor, there is
no clear influence of the W/B and the amount of fine
aggregate on the drying shrinkage behavior of SCA
mortar cured in air. However, it can be seen that the
25
0
-25
-50
-75
W/B0.35CA20S50
W/B0.35CA20S55
W/B0.35CA20S60
-100
-125
0
20
40
60
80
(a) Air curing
100
20
40
60
80
(b) Water curing
100
W/B0.40CA25S50
W/B0.40CA25S55
W/B0.40CA25S60
175
150
125
100
75
50
25
0
0
W/B0.40CA20S50
W/B0.40CA20S55
W/B0.40CA20S60
4.2.3 SEM observations of SCA mortars

Figure 10 shows the microstructural characteristics of
the SCA mortars with 55 % fine aggregate (by
volume) using W/B of 0.40. A plenty of massive
continuous hydration products of the SCA mortars
were observed in SEM images, especially in those of
the SCA mortars with 20 and 25 % CA. Such
hydration products explain why the SCA mortars with
55 % fine aggregate can produce a compressive
strength as high as 5070 MPa at 91 days. In addition,
the densest microstructures of the SCA mortars with
20 and 25 % CA explain why their compressive
strengths are higher than those with 15 % CA.
5 Conclusions
An innovative slag eco-binder (SCA) without OPC
was created in this study by using CFBC fly ash (CA)
to activate the hydration of GGBF slag (S). The
engineering properties and microstructure of the SCA
paste and mortar were investigated. Through the
experimental results, the following conclusions can be
drawn:
1.
2.
3.
Fig. 10 SEM micrographs of SCA mortars cured in air at
91 days
fine aggregate restrains the drying shrinkage of SCAwater system so that the drying shrinkage of SCA
mortars was less than that of the SCA pastes.
The Ca(OH)2 from CA-water system can dissolve

slag and then react with the active SiO2 and the
active Al2O3 of slag to form AFt, CSH and C
ASH, all of which enable the SCA paste to set
properly and form dense microstructure.
A plenty of massive continuous hydration products with highly dense microstructures give
compressive strength of the SCA paste and mortar
as high as 4070 MPa at 28 days, which is
suitable for the construction in practice. The
compressive strengths increase with time but the
increasing rate also decreases with time. Such
results are consistent with the formation of
hydration products, which are produced fast at
early ages and gradually slow at later ages.
In general, lower W/B results in higher compressive strength of SCA paste and mortar. The SCA
pastes cured in water without fine aggregate suffer
drastic expansion of AFt so that they have lower
early compressive strength than those cured in air.
But, their strengths in the long terms are
equivalent to or even higher than those cured in
air due to the mass hydration products.
4.
With water curing, the SCA paste and mortar

expand fast at early ages and then the expansion
rate rapidly decreases. Higher CA results in higher
expansion. The fine aggregate significantly reduces expansion of the SCA paste. With air
curing, however, the SCA paste and mortar
expand during the first few days and shrink later.
The early expansion compensates for its drying
shrinkage, resulting in low drying shrinkage.
Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the

financial support of this work by National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech) through the
scholarships.
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