• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2012

Recently, the cement industries brought very severe environment problems such as resource depletion and global warming with massive carbon dioxide during its production. The number of cases using industrial by-products such as the ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) in concrete mixtures is increasing to resolve the environmental issue. GGBFS is mainly used in the range between 20 to 50% to replace cement, but nowadays lots of researches are carried out to develop the alkali-activated slag (AAS) concrete with no cement. In this study, the early age properties of alkali activated slag (AAS) mortar are investigated to obtain the fundamental data for AAS concrete application to structural members. The experimental variables were the water-binder ratios of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 and NaOH as the alkali activator of 4%, 8%, and 12% by the mass of GGBFS, and compressive strength, flow, setting time, and ultrasonic pulse velocity of AAS mortars were measured and analyzed. It is found from the test results that as the normal concrete the lower W/B, the higher compressive strength. However, superplasticizer has to be used for producing high strength AAS concrete because the workability of AAS mortar are significantly lowered.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.75-84
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• 2016

This paper presents an investigation of the mechanical properties on non-sintered cement pastes immersed in sea waters at three different temperatures. The non-sintered cement pastes were synthesized using blended binder(Class F fly ash; FA and ground granulated blast furnace slag; GGBFS) and alkali activator(sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate). Binders were prepared by mixing the FA and GGBFS in different blend weight ratios of 6:4, 7:3 and 8:2. The alkali activators were used 5wt% of blended binder, respectively. Calcium carbonate was used as an chemical additive. The compressive strength, bulk density and absorption of alkali-activated FA-GGBFS blends pastes were measured at 3 and 28 days after immersed in sea waters at three different temperatures($5^{\circ}C$, $15^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$). The XRD and SEM tests of the pastes were conducted at 28 days. Water-soluble chloride(free chloride) and acid-soluble chloride(total chloride) contents in the pastes were also measured after 28 days immersion in sea water. The experimental results showed that increasing the content of FA in alkali-activated FA-GGBFS blends pastes immersed in sea water increases the absorption, water-soluble chloride content and acid-soluble chloride content, and reduces the compressive strength and bulk density. And it was found that there was a variation of strength change for the alkali-activated FA-GGBFS blends pastes immersed in sea waters at three different temperatures that depends on the blending ratio of FA and GGBFS.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.205-212
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• 2016

This research investigates the influence of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) composition on the alkali-activated slag cement (AASC). Aluminum oxide ($Al_2O_3$) was added to GGBFS binder between 2% and 16% by weight. The alkaline activators KOH (potassium hydroxide) was used and the water to binder ratio of 0.50. The strength development results indicate that increasing the amount of $Al_2O_3$ enhanced hydration. The 2M KOH + 16% $Al_2O_3$ and 4M KOH + 16% $Al_2O_3$ specimens had the highest strength, with an average of 30.8 MPa and 45.2 MPa, after curing for 28days. The strength at 28days of 2M KOH + 16% $Al_2O_3$ was 46% higher than that of 2M KOH (without $Al_2O_3$). Also, the strength at 28days of 4M KOH + 16% $Al_2O_3$ was 44% higher than that of 4M KOH (without $Al_2O_3$). Increase the $Al_2O_3$ contents of the binder results in the strength development at all curing ages. The incorporation of AASC tended to increases the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) due to the similar effects of strength, but increasing the amount of $Al_2O_3$ adversely decreases the water absorption and porosity. Higher addition of $Al_2O_3$ in the specimens increases the Al/Ca and Al/Si in the hydrated products. SEM and EDX analyses show that the formation of much denser microstructures with $Al_2O_3$ addition.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.511-519
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• 2015

Methods such table flow, slump and outflow time have used to be as a main evaluation criteria regards to fluidity of concrete. Since those methods mentioned above have some inaccuracies which are up to its condition of test. Studies that evaluate fluidity applying the rheology has increased its portion in this field. Meanwhile, demands for AAS binder have been increased in accordance with its demand for this market, studies for rheology of AAS binder are little though. Therefore, this paper mainly deals a rheological peculiarity of AAS binder according to its condition of W/B ratio and alkali activators. The fluidity of AAS paste was evaluated with the index of table flow and outflow time. And shear stress following its shear rate was analyzed through rheological test. Rheological parameters were deduced through this rheological test of Bingham model and analyzed its interrelation with fluidity test. As the final outcome, it proposed the interrelation among table flow, yield stress, viscosity and outflow time. In basis of this study, we would like to suggest a reference for mixing AAS mortars and concretes.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.305-312
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• 2013

This paper reports the results of an investigation into the effects of silica fume on strength properties of alkali-activated slag cement (AASC) with water-binder (W/B) ratio and replacement ratio of silica fume content. The W/B ratio varied between 0.50 and 0.60 at a constant increment of 0.05. The silica fume content varied from 0% to 50% by weight of slag. The activators was used sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the dosage of activator was 3M. The strength development with W/B ratio has been studied at different ages of 1, 3, 7 and 28 days. For mixes of AASC mortars with varying silica fume content, the flow values were lower than the control mixes (without silica fume). The flow value was decrease as the content of silica fume increase. This is because the higher surface areas of silica fume particles increase the water requirement. The analysis of these results indicates that, increasing the silica fume content in AASC mortar also increased the compressive strength. Moreover, the strength decreases with the W/B ratios increases. This is because the particle sizes of silica fume are smaller than slag. The high compressive strength of blended slag-silica fume mortars was due to both the filler effect and the activated reaction of silica fume evidently giving the mortar matrix a denser microstructure, thereby resulting in a significant gain in strength.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.39-47
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• 2015

In this study, the properties of strength and drying shrinkage of alkali-activated slag cement (AASC) with magnesium oxide (MgO) contents between 0 and 16 wt% were investigated. The ground granulated furnace blast slag (GGBFS) was activated by potassium hydroxide (KOH) and dosage of activator was 2M and 4M. The MgO was replaced with 2% to 16% of GGBFS by weight. The water-binder ratio (w/b) was 0.5. In the result, the higher MgO content leads to a slightly higher degree of reaction and thus to a higher compressive strength at all ages. The compressive strength and ultra sonic velocity (UPV) increased with increases MgO contents. The drying shrinkage of AASC was decreased as the contents of MgO increases. The results from SEM confirmed that there were densified reaction product of higher MgO content specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.114-121
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• 2010

Portland cement production is under critical review due to high amount of CO2 gas released to the atmosphere. Attempts to increase the utilization of a by-products such as fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag to partially replace the cement in concrete are gathering momentum. But most of by-products is currently dumped in landfills, thus creating a threat to the environment. Many researches on alkali-activated concrete that does not need the presence of cement as a binder have been carried out recently. However, most study deal only with alkali-activated ground granulated blast furnace slag or fly ash, as for the combined use of the both, little information is reported. In this study, we investigated the influence of mixture ratio of fly ash/ blast furnace slag tand curing condition on the flowability and compressive strength of mortar in oder to develop cementless alkali-activated concrete. In view of the results, we found out that the mixture ratio of fly ash/blast furnace slag always results to be significant factors. But the influence of curing temperature in the strength development of mortar is lower than the contribution due to other factors. At the age of 28days, the mixture 50% fly ash and 50% ground granulated blast furnace slag activated with 1:1 the mass ratio of 9M NaOH and sodium silicate, develop compressive strength of about 65 MPa under $20^{\circ}C$ curing.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.19-28
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• 2010

Attempts to increase the utilization of a by-products such as fly ash and blast furnace slag to partially replace the cement in concrete are gathering momentum. But most of by-products is currently dumped in landfills, thus creating a threat to the environment. Many researches on alkali-activated concrete that does not need the presence of cement as a binder have been carried out recently. However, most study deal only with alkali-activated blast furnace slag or fly ash, as for the combined use of the both, little information is reported. In this study, we investigated the influence of mixture ratio of fly ash/slag, type of alkaline activator and curing condition on the workability and compressive strength of mortar in oder to develop cementless alkali-activated concrete. In view of the results, we found out that the mixture ratio of fly ash/slag and the type of alkaline activator always results to be significant factors. But the influence of curing temperature in the strength development of mortar is lower than the contribution due to other factors. At the age of 28days, the mixture 50% fly ash and 50% slag activated with 1:1 the mass ratio of 9M NaOH and sodium silicate, develop compressive strength of about 65 MPa under $20^{\circ}C$ curing.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2018

This study presents microstructural characteristics and strength properties of alkali-activated kaolin(K)-fly ash(FA) blends binders. The compressive strength, X-ray diffraction(XRD), thermogravimetric(TG) analysis and SEM/EDS were measured for hardened samples. The results were shown that all the samples had developed the compressive strength over time, regardless of replacement levels of K. It was found that when the amount of K increased, the strengths of samples decreased. In XRD result, no new crystalline phases were observed in all the hardened samples other than the crystalline components of raw FA and K, whereas TG analysis showed that N-A-S-H gel was formed as a reaction product in all the samples. Samples did not have the typical microstructure of dense, and there is little significant difference between the microstructures of the samples despite the differences in the strength testing results with replacement ratios of K. This study showed that the strength of sample was larger for lower Si/Al ratio of reaction product formed in sample. According to the correlation between Si/Al ratio and strength in this study, it is expected that if a chemical additive is used for lowering the Si/Al ratio of reaction product(i.e., increasing the $Al_2O_3$ solubility) in alkali-activated K-FA blends binders, strength improvement in K-FA blends binders could be achieved.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.593-600
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• 2016

The paper presented investigates the effects of kaolinite on strength properties of alkali-activated multi-component cement. The binders of this study was blended of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF) and kaolinite (KA). In this study, the specimens of combination of 20%~70% GGBFS, 10%~60% FA, 10% SF (constant ratio) and 10%~50% KA binder were used for strength properties tests. The water/binder ratio was 0.5. The binders (GGBFS + FA + SF + KA) was activated by sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate ($Na_2SiO_3$) was 10% by total binder weight (10% NaOH + 10% $Na_2SiO_3$). The research carried out is on the compressive strength, water absorption, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The compressive strength decreased as the contents of KA increase. One of the major reason for this is the low reactivity of KA compared with other raw materials used as precursors such as GGBFS or FA. The presence of remaining KA indicates that the initially used quantity has not fully reacted during hydration. Moreover, the results have indicated that increased of KA contents decreased UPV under all experimental conditions. The drying shrinkage and water absorption increased as the content of KA increase. Test result clearly showed that the strength development of multi-component blended cement were significantly dependent on the content of KA and GGBFS.