TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimal design of ferronickel slag alkali-activated mortar for repair exposed to high thermal load
AU - Arce, Andres
AU - Le Galliard, Cassandre
AU - Komkova, Anastasija
AU - Papanicolaou, Catherine G.
AU - Triantafillou, Thanasis C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by HEAL-Link Greece. This research was funded by the European Union’s H2020 MARIE SKODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS, Grant Agreement No. 813596 DuRSAAM. The APC was funded by the University of Patras.
Funding Information:
We thank the company LARCO for the kind donation of ferronickel slag. Special acknowledgement is given to the Laboratory of Sedimentology, and the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis of the University of Patras. The authors would like to acknowledge Efthymios Tasis and Yiannis Pontikes for their assistance in the processing of the FNS.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - In this work, the optimal design of a mortar based on alkali-activated material technology is presented. Ferronickel slag, a byproduct of the ferronickel alloy industry, was used both as a binder component (in a finely ground form) and as fine aggregate in alignment with a circular economy approach. The proportions of binder, fine aggregate, and water were optimized using Design of Experiment Design of Mixtures. The performance indicators evaluated were flow, flexural and compressive strength both before and after high-temperature exposure, mass loss, and thermal shrinkage. Life cycle assessment was used to calculate the relative environmental cost of the studied mixes in comparison to a counterpart traditional Ordinary Portland Cement mortar. The optimal mix design exhibited high flexural strength (8.5 and 10.5 MPa, before and after high-temperature exposure, respectively), an unheated compressive strength equal to 69.5 MPa, and a post-heating residual one of 33.9 MPa, 7.7% mass loss and 3.4% thermal shrinkage. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry along with Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis were also performed on optimal mortar samples in order to link micro-structural heat-induced changes to residual (post-heating) macro-mechanical performances. Finally, when compared to OPC-based products, the optimized mortar mix resulted in 70% lower CO2 emissions indicating great potential for the construction sector where concern about environmental impact keeps growing.
AB - In this work, the optimal design of a mortar based on alkali-activated material technology is presented. Ferronickel slag, a byproduct of the ferronickel alloy industry, was used both as a binder component (in a finely ground form) and as fine aggregate in alignment with a circular economy approach. The proportions of binder, fine aggregate, and water were optimized using Design of Experiment Design of Mixtures. The performance indicators evaluated were flow, flexural and compressive strength both before and after high-temperature exposure, mass loss, and thermal shrinkage. Life cycle assessment was used to calculate the relative environmental cost of the studied mixes in comparison to a counterpart traditional Ordinary Portland Cement mortar. The optimal mix design exhibited high flexural strength (8.5 and 10.5 MPa, before and after high-temperature exposure, respectively), an unheated compressive strength equal to 69.5 MPa, and a post-heating residual one of 33.9 MPa, 7.7% mass loss and 3.4% thermal shrinkage. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry along with Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis were also performed on optimal mortar samples in order to link micro-structural heat-induced changes to residual (post-heating) macro-mechanical performances. Finally, when compared to OPC-based products, the optimized mortar mix resulted in 70% lower CO2 emissions indicating great potential for the construction sector where concern about environmental impact keeps growing.
KW - Alkali-activated cement
KW - Modeling
KW - Mortar
KW - Refractory cement
KW - Waste management
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U2 - 10.1617/s11527-023-02117-9
DO - 10.1617/s11527-023-02117-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85148485390
SN - 1359-5997
VL - 56
JO - Materials and Structures/Materiaux et Constructions
JF - Materials and Structures/Materiaux et Constructions
IS - 2
M1 - 34
ER -