Study of Pathologies in Alkali-Activated Materials Based on Slag

The main pathogens that occur in alkali-activated materials based on blast furnace slag are efflorescence and the black heart, due to the saturation of very high amounts of sodium. Therefore, the objective of this work was to measure the alkali mortars activated by a solution of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, and 15M using sodium hydroxide, testing the material under compression and water absorption with 7 days of curing at room temperature, and thermal curing at 60 °C. The results show that the use of 12.5M and 15M causes the appearance of this pathology when curing in a normal environment, while compositions with 10M, 7.5M, and 5M present excellent technological parameters.