Feasibility Study and Criteria for EAF Slag Utilization in Concrete Products

The use of industrial byproducts in concrete applications is a scientific area of great interest over the past several years, and steel slags are acknowledged as having great potential for such use; however, the utilization rates are relatively low. The main barriers identified for this occurrence are failure to quantify benefits in terms of quality of the final product, environmental benefits, as well as cost reduction. The present research attempts to quantify these aspects for five different concrete applications examined as case studies. Laboratory-produced alternative concrete mixtures with steel slags are compared with ordinary reference concrete mixtures for their performance regarding mechanical characteristics and durability, environmental benefits using life cycle assessment, and cost estimation. The results show that there is great potential for the use of steel slag in concrete, but the benefits need to be determined for each specific use, since the values observed vary greatly depending on the application. Industrial pavement and heavyweight concretes seem to be the most favorable applications for steel slag, while the shotcrete and repair mortars examined benefited less from the use of slag.