Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag as a Cement Replacement in Concrete: An Analysis of Dissolution

The goal of the current study is to determine the dissolving effect of slag in water. Five percentage values of slag were taken up for the study: 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 20%. The study is based on two methods of mixing. The first method is the traditional mixing process, which involves addition of slag directly with other concrete proportions such as cement, sand, water, coarse aggregate, and fine aggregate. The second method is the novel mixing methodology, which involves immersion of slag in water before combining with the other concrete constituents. As compared to traditional mixing procedure, the novel mixing methodology has given improved results in terms of mechanical strength of concrete. The highest compressive strength was determined for 1-h dissolution period with the immersion of 2.5% and 5% slag in water. A significant increase of around 166% in the compressive strength of control mix was determined at the end of 28 days using 2.5% slag in the novel mixing methodology. The increase in the compressive strength of concrete may be related to the hydrolysis of slag with the effect of mobility of calcium and silica ions in water. © 2022, The Institution of Engineers (India).