Effect of slag on the rheology of fresh self-compacted concrete

The building industry is turning increasingly to the use of self-compacting concrete (SCC) in order to improve many aspects of building construction as SCC offers several advantages in technical, economic, and environmental terms. Fresh self-compacting concrete (SCC) flows into place and around obstructions under its own weight to fill the formwork completely and self-compact without any segregation and blocking. SCC mixes generally have a much higher content of fine fillers. The use of supplementary cementitious materials is well accepted because of the improvement in concrete properties and also for environmental and economical reasons. The present paper is an effort to quantify the influence of Algerian slag on the properties of fresh and hardened self-compacting concrete. The workability-related fresh properties of SCC were observed through slump flow time and diameter, V-Funnel flow time, J-Ring test, U-Box filling height and GTM sieve stability test. The only hardened property that was included in this study was the compressive strength. An optimum slag content of 15% seems to give a good SCC mixture with workability retention of about 60 min. A decrease in compressive strength with increase of slag content was obtained, but this decrease in compressive strength is less important at late ages (56 and 90 days after mixing).