Magazine of Concrete Research Magazine of Concrete Research, 2011, 63(10), 737–742

Volume 63 Issue 10 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/macr.2011.63.10.737

Paper 1000092
Activity index for steel slag Received 14/05/2010; last revised 15/08/2010; accepted 23/09/2010
Qiang, Peiyu and Song
Thomas Telford Ltd & 2011

Activity index for steel slag

Wang Qiang Han Song
Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua PhD candidate, Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University,
University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Yan Peiyu
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing,
People’s Republic of China

Currently, most steel slag is used as aggregate for concrete, asphaltic paving and road bases. High-alkalinity steel
slag shows certain cementitious properties and should be given priority to be used as a supplementary cementitious
material in concrete, based on economical and environmental considerations. This study was conducted to propose
an effective method to evaluate the activity of high-alkalinity steel slag. Although the alkalinity determines the types
of major minerals of steel slag, it does not determine the contents of these minerals. The difference of activity
among different types of high-alkalinity steel slag cannot be further distinguished by alkalinity. The activity index
(AI (SiO2 + Al2 O3 )/(FeO + Fe2 O3 + MgO + MnO)) was defined to evaluate the hydration activity of steel slag, which
was verified to be effective by the results of examples. The higher the activity index, the higher the hydration
activity of the steel slag.

Introduction Mason (1994), is commonly used to evaluate its hydration

Steel slag is a by-product from the conversion of iron to steel,
which constitutes around 15% of steel production. Dumping of
steel slag occupies large areas of land and results in many serious
environmental problems. Thus, raising the utilisation ratio of steel
slag is essential to sustainable social and economic development.
At the moment, steel slag is being used as aggregates for
concrete, asphaltic paving and road bases (Asi et al., 2007; Beshr
et al., 2003; Wu et al., 2007). If the steel slag is ground to a
powder whose specific surface area is close to or greater than that
of cement, it can be used as a concrete mineral admixture like fly
ash or blast furnace slag. Although some investigations have been
performed for using steel slag as a partial substitute for Portland
cement in concrete and in blended cement, the utilisation ratio of
steel slag in this field is still very low (Hendrik, 2009; Motz and
Geiseler, 2001; Murphy et al., 1997). Employing steel slag as a
supplementary cementitious material during the manufacture of
cement or concrete is an effective way for its utilisation. There-
fore, the use of steel slag as a cementing component should be
given priority based on technical, economical and environmental
considerations (Shi, 2004).
activity. In general, it is assumed that the hydration activity of
steel slag increases with its alkalinity (Altun and Yılmaz, 2002;
Shi, 2004). The relationships between the hydration activity, the
alkalinity and the main mineral phase of steel slag are listed in
Table 1 (Tang et al., 1979).
It can be seen from Table 1 that the major mineral components of
low-alkalinity steel slag are phases with low activity, so low-
alkalinity steel slag is appropriate to be used as aggregate. If the
alkalinity of steel slag is close to or higher than 2.4, there are
some phases with high activity in its major mineral components,
so high-alkalinity steel slag is more appropriate to be used as a
cementing component. For high-alkalinity steel slag which is
used as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete, an
evaluation method is needed to assess its hydration activity. In
this paper, the limitation of using alkalinity of steel slag to
evaluate its hydration activity is discussed. Then a new method to
evaluate the hydration activity of steel slag is proposed.

The chemical composition and mineralogical composition of steel Hydration Alkalinity Major mineral phases
slag both vary significantly depending on raw materials, type of activity
steel made, steel-making method, etc. CaO, SiO2 , Al2 O3 , F2 O3 ,
Low 0.9–1.4 Olivine, RO phase and merwinite
MgO, FeO and P2 O5 are common chemical compositions of steel
1.4–1.6 Merwinite, C2 S and RO phase
slag (Shi and Qian, 2000). Olivine, merwinite, dicalcium silicate
Medium 1.6–2.4 C2 S and RO phase
(C2 S), tricalcium silicate (C3 S), tetracalcium aluminoferrite
High .2.4 C3 S, C2 S, C4 AF, C2 F and RO phase
(C4 AF), dicalcium ferrite (C2 F), CaO–FeO–MnO–MgO solid
solution (known as the RO phase) and free CaO are common Table 1. Hydration activity, alkalinity and mineral compositions of
minerals in steel slag (Kourounis et al., 2007; Shi, 2002). The steel slags (Tang et al., 1979)
alkalinity (CaO/(SiO2 + P2 O5 )) of steel slag, as proposed by

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Volume 63 Issue 10 Qiang, Peiyu and Song

Experimental work No. Composition of binders: % Water/binder

ratio
Raw materials Cement Steel slag
Three different types of steel slag were used. Their mineralogical
phases, which were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) PA 0 100 (steel slag A) 0.30
analysis, are given in Figure 1. The cement used was pure PB 0 100 (steel slag B) 0.30
Portland cement with the strength grade of 42.5 complying with PC 0 100 (steel slag C) 0.30
the Chinese National Standard GB 175-1999. The chemical C 100 0 0.42
compositions of these materials are shown in Table 2. The CS1 77.5 22.5 (steel slag B) 0.42
specific areas of steel slags A, B and C were 521, 506 and CS2 55 45 (steel slag B) 0.42
516 m2 /kg respectively.
Table 3. Mix proportions of the different pastes
Mix proportion and test methods
The mix proportions of different pastes are shown in Table 3. All
pastes were cast into plastic centrifuge tubes and sealed immedi- proportions of different mortars are shown in Table 4. The sand/
ately after having been stirred uniformly, then cured at 20
18C binder ratio of all mortars was 3.0. Steel slag mortars (MA, MB
till testing ages. At the ages of 1, 3, 7, 28, 90, and 360 days, the and MC) were cured first at 20
18C and 95% relative humidity
hydration was stopped by soaking the samples in acetone. for 28 days, and then cured in water of 20
18C for the
remaining time. At the ages of 7, 28, 90 and 360 days, their
Mortar bars of 40 3 40 3 160 mm were prepared. The mix compressive strength was tested according to Chinese National

1: C3S 2: C2S 3: C2F 4: C12A7 5: RO phase 6: Ca2Al2Si3O12 7: Fe3O4 8: f-CaO 9: MgO

1
2 5
11 6
22 9
1
1 5
1 4 2
3 4 7 2 2 Steel slag C
1 2 8 2 6 7 6

Steel slag B

Steel slag A

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
2θ

Figure 1. X-ray diffraction patterns of the three types of steel

slag used

Composition SiO2 Al2 O3 FeO þ Fe2 O3 CaO MgO P2 O5 Na2 Oeq MnO Loss on ignition

Cement 21.86 4.25 2.66 63.59 2.19 0 0.55 0 1.75

Steel slag A 17.52 6.68 20.30 42.87 8.65 0.48 0.12 0.67 2.15
Steel slag B 17.03 5.64 22.69 43.38 5.98 0.76 0.45 1.70 1.86
Steel slag C 14.38 2.90 26.76 43.24 5.15 0.94 0.08 4.32 2.03

Note: Na2 Oeq ¼ Na2 O + 0.658K2 O

Table 2. Chemical composition of cement and steel slags (wt%)

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Volume 63 Issue 10 Qiang, Peiyu and Song

No. Composition of binders: % Water/binder Results and discussion

ratio
Cement Steel slag Comparison of hydration activity of three steel slags
Figure 2 shows the wn contents of steel slag pastes until the age
MA 0 100 (steel slag A) 0.30 of 360 days. It is observed that the wn content of steel slag paste
MB 0 100 (steel slag B) 0.30 PA is higher than that of steel slag paste PB, and is much higher
MC 0 100 (steel slag C) 0.30 than that of steel slag paste PC at the same ages. The compres-
CC 100 0 0.42 sive strengths of steel slag mortars at the ages of 7, 28, 90 and
CSA1 77.5 22.5 (steel slag A) 0.42 360 days are listed in Table 5. The compressive strength of steel
CSA2 55 45 (steel slag A) 0.42 slag mortar MA is higher than that of steel slag mortar SB, and is
CSA3 40 60 (steel slag A) 0.42 much higher than that of steel slag mortar MC at the same ages.
CSB1 77.5 22.5 (steel slag B) 0.42
CSB2 55 45 (steel slag B) 0.42 The results of Figure 2 and Table 5 show the difference in
CSB3 40 60 (steel slag B) 0.42 hydration activity among different steel slags under the hydration
CSC1 77.5 22.5 (steel slag C) 0.42 condition of pure water. When the steel slag is used as a
CSC2 55 45 (steel slag C) 0.42 supplementary cementitious material in concrete, its hydration is
CSC3 40 60 (steel slag C) 0.42 influenced by the alkaline condition created by the hydration of
cement. Alkaline condition can stimulate the activity of steel slag
Table 4. Mix proportions of the different mortar bars to a certain extent (Shi, 2002). Meanwhile, the hydration condi-
tion of cement is improved because steel slag needs less water for
hydration than cement. So there is a mutual promotion between
Standards GB/T 17671-1999. Other mortars were cured first at cement and steel slag in the hydration process of cement–steel
20
18C and 95% relative humidity for the first day, and then slag complex binder.
cured in water of 20
18C for the remaining time. At the ages of
1, 3, 7, 28, 90 and 360 days, their compressive strength was Figures 3–5 show the compressive strengths of cement and
tested according to Chinese National Standards GB/T 17671- cement–steel slag mortars. For all steel slags, the compressive
1999.
14
Non-evaporable water (wn ) content of the hydrated pastes was
determined to evaluate the degree of hydration. For the hydration 12
Non-evaporatable water, wn: %

product of cement, the non-evaporable water content is defined as

the mass loss per gramme of original cement, measured between
10
the temperatures of about 1008C and about 10008C (Lam et al.,
2000; Sarita et al., 2006). The aluminates/silicates ratio of steel
slag is higher than that of cement. Some products of aluminates 8
decompose below 1008C. For example, ettringite formed in the
early hydration period decomposes when it is subjected to 6
PA
temperatures above 708C. So the steel slag paste samples were
first put into an oven and heated to 658C for 24 h, then transferred PB
4
into a muffle furnace and heated to 10008C for 2.5 h. The non- PC
evaporable water content was obtained as the mass difference
between the sample heated to 658C and 10008C normalised by 2
1 10 100 400
the mass after heating to 658C, and correcting for the loss on Hydration age: days
ignition of unhydrated samples.
Figure 2. Non-evaporable water contents of steel slag pastes
The hydration products were mineralogically determined by
XRD. The XRD measurements were conducted with a TTR III
diffractometer using nickel-filtered Cu KÆ1 radiation (¼ 1.5405
Å), 50 kV voltage and 200 mA current. Ages 7 days 28 days 90 days 360 days

MA 2.26 3.12 3.98 9.17

The microstructure of hydration products was observed using a
MB 1.36 1.77 3.75 8.02
FEI Quanta200F scanning electron microscope (SEM) under
MC 0.84 0.89 2.14 4.87
high-vacuum conditions and the distributions of elements in the
products were detected by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy Table 5. The compressive strength of steel slag mortars (in MPa)
(EDS).

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Magazine of Concrete Research Activity index for steel slag
Volume 63 Issue 10 Qiang, Peiyu and Song

80 80
CC CC
70 CSA1 70 CSA3
Compressive strength: MPa

CSB1

Compressive strength: MPa

60 60 CSB3
CSC1 CSC3
50 50

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
1 10 100 400 1 10 100 400
Hydration age: days Hydration age: days

Figure 3. Compressive strengths of cement mortar and Figure 5. Compressive strengths of cement mortar and
cement–steel slag mortars (steel slag was used at 22.5% cement–steel slag mortars (steel slag was used at 60%
replacement) replacement)

80
produces hydration products such as C–S–H gel. The physical
CC
70 contribution refers to the contribution made by unreacted parti-
CSA2
cles, which act as microaggregates. The physical contribution is
Compressive strength: MPa

60 CSB2
CSC2
50
40
30
20
10
0 accurately.
1 10 100
Hydration age: days
Figure 4. Compressive strengths of cement mortar and
cement–steel slag mortars (steel slag was used at 45%
replacement)
strength of mortar, particularly the early strength, decreases as
the amount added is increased, but there is a difference in the
degree to which the different steel slags influence the compressive
strength of the mortar. The compressive strength of mortar with
steel slag A is the highest, followed by mortar with steel slag B,
then mortar of steel slag C, which is the last one where the steel
slag takes the same fraction. Moreover, the gaps between them
are more obvious in the case of larger cement replacement. Steel
slag makes chemical and physical contributions to the compres-
sive strength simultaneously. The chemical contribution refers to
the contribution made by the chemical reaction of steel slag that
closely related to the fineness of the steel slag particles. The
specific areas of the steel slags are very close to each other, so
their physical contributions are almost the same. Therefore, the
gaps between the mortar compressive strengths are mainly
attributable to the hydration activity of the steel slag. As a
supplementary cementitious material in concrete, the hydration
activity of steel slag A is a little higher than that of steel slag B,
and is much higher than that of steel slag C. The alkalinities of
steel slags A, B and C are 2.38, 2.44 and 2.82, respectively. The
alkalinity of steel slag does not reflect its hydration activity
400
The alkalinity determines the major mineral phases of steel slag,
but it does not determine the proportion of these mineral phases.
C2 S and C3 S are the main active components of steel slag, and
their content decreases with the reduction of SiO2 : However, the
alkalinity of steel slag increases with the reduction of SiO2 : In
this case, high alkalinity means low hydration activity. Part of the
CaO is solidified in the RO phase, the portion of which is closely
related to the content of FeO and Fe2 O3. Meanwhile, free CaO
also has a contribution to the alkalinity of steel slag. Thus, a high
content of CaO does not always mean a high content of C2 S and
C3 S. Therefore, there are limitations to using alkalinity of steel
slag to evaluate its hydration activity.
A method to evaluate the hydration activity of steel slag
Figure 6 shows the XRD patterns of steel slag B hydrated for 3,
90 and 360 days. The peaks of RO phase, C2 F and Fe3 O4 remain
almost unchanged, which indicates that their reaction degrees are
very low. The peaks of C3 S, C2 S, C12 A7 and Ca2 Al2 Si3 O12

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Volume 63 Issue 10 Qiang, Peiyu and Song

C: Ca(OH)2 F: Fe3O4 R: RO phase N: C2F

R
N C F R 360 days 7
1
90 days
3
3 days

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
2θ 9

Figure 6. X-ray diffraction patterns of steel slag hydrated at

various ages
2

4 5
diminish with age. Figure 7 shows the XRD patterns of cement
and cement–steel slag complex binders hydrated for 360 days. It 8
can be seen that the unhydrated phases (C2 F and RO phase) 6
increase with the increase of steel slag content. The XRD results 10·0 µm

of pastes S1 and S2 in Figure 7 indicate that the reaction degree (a)

of the RO phase is very low, even in the condition of an alkaline
environment created by hydrated cement.

14
Figure 8 shows the typical microstructure of fractured surfaces of
steel slag paste PB at the age of 360 days. C–S–H gel forms a
dense matrix surrounding unhydrated phases. Table 6 lists the
mole fraction of elements of gel and particles in Figure 8, which 10 11
were calculated based on EDS analysis. From Table 6, it can be
seen that the elements silicon (Si) and aluminium (Al) mainly
exist in the gel, and the elements iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg) and 15
manganese (Mn) mainly exist in the unhydrated particles. 12

Thus, the steel slag can be divided into two distinct parts: the
cementitious phases (C3 S, C2 S, C12 A7 and Ca2 Al2 Si3 O12 ) and
the inert phases (RO phase, C2 F and Fe3 O4 ). The hydration
activity of steel slag is closely related to the ratio of cementitious 13
phases to inert phases. It can be concluded that the higher the
50·0 µm
ratio, the higher the hydration activity of steel slag.
(b)
It is rather difficult to determine the content of each mineral
Figure 8. Morphology of PB paste hydrated for 360 days
composition directly, and a simple yet effective way would be
beneficial for engineering applications of steel slag. The contents

of SiO2 and Al2 O3 determine the contents of mineral composi-

C: Ca(OH)2 N: C2F R: RO phase tions C3 S, C2 S, C12 A and Ca2 Al2 Si3 O12 , and the contents of
C
C FeO, Fe2 O3 , MgO and MnO determine the contents of mineral
N R C C CS2 compositions of the RO phase, C2 F and Fe3 O4 : Therefore, the
ratio of (SiO2 +Al2 O3 )/(FeO+Fe2 O3 +MgO+MnO) is able to repre-
R CS1
sent the ratio of cementitious phases/inert phases.

C The activity index (AI ¼ (SiO2 + Al2 O3 )/(FeO + Fe2 O3 + MgO +

MnO)) is defined to evaluate the hydration activity of steel slag.
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
The activity indexes for steel slags A, B and C are 0.82, 0.75 and
2θ
0.48, respectively. The activity index for steel slag A is a little
Figure 7. X-ray diffraction patterns of different binder pastes higher than that for steel slag B and much higher than for steel
hydrated for 360 days slag C. This proves that the activity index for steel slag can
reflect its hydration activity. It is important to emphasise that the

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Volume 63 Issue 10 Qiang, Peiyu and Song

O Mg Al Si Ca Fe Mn aggregate in asphalt concrete mixes. Canadian Journal of

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Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of
the Key Technologies R&D Program of China grant no.
2006BAF02A24 and the National Basic Research Program of
China grant no. 2009CB623106
WH AT DO YO U T HI NK?
To discuss this paper, please submit up to 500 words to
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Altun A and Yılmaz I (2002) Study on steel furnace slags with 2012. Your contribution will be forwarded to the
high MgO as additive in Portland cement. Cement and author(s) for a reply and, if considered appropriate by
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Asi IM, Qasrawi HY and Shalabi FI (2007) Use of steel slag future issue of the journal.

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