Influence of high-volume electric furnace nickel slag and phosphorous slag on the properties of massive concrete

This study applied high-volume electric furnace nickel slag (FS), phosphorous slag (PS) and a mixture of the two (FP) to massive concrete, and using fly ash (FA) as the control admixture, investigated the effects of FS and PS on the hydration and hardening process of the cementitious materials, the mechanical properties and the durability of the concrete. Two curing conditions were set, namely the standard curing condition and temperature-matched curing condition (or constant 25 and 50 °C). The hydration heat, hydration products, pore size distribution, mechanical properties and ability of the concrete to resist chloride ion penetration were tested. The results show that the activity of PS and FP is higher than that of FA, while that of FS is lower than that of FA; the improvement of FP on the pore structure of the hardened paste is close to that of FA at late ages under the standard curing condition but better than that of FA at all ages under the temperature-matched curing condition; high-volume FP concrete shows similar or even superior mechanical properties and permeability to chloride ions of concrete to high-volume FA concrete at late ages under both curing conditions.