Microstructural and other properties of copper slag–coal bottom ash incorporated concrete using fly ash as cement replacement

摘要

Increased demand for concrete leads to an increase in utilization of cement and sand, and increased consumption of cementleads to increased CO_2emissions. Furthermore, mining restrictions in certain areas and the growing need for natural ecologicalsustainability lead to additional problems with river sand availability. This study promotes the utilization of industrialwaste in concrete for long-term environmental sustainability and safe disposal. Out of various types of industrial byproducts,combined use of copper slag and bottom ash as sand and simultaneously fly ash as cement, the replacement has not yet beenstudied out. Hence, the primary goal of this research was to evaluate their usage in concrete to replace sand with copper slagand coal bottom ash waste, as well as cement with fly ash. Concrete mixtures were made using varying amounts of wastecopper slag (CS) and bottom ash (CBA) (0–60%) in equal proportions as a partial substitute for natural sand, as well as flyash (0–30%) as cement. Slump, unit weight, split tensile strength, compressive strength, and microstructural characteristicssuch as X-ray diffraction, SEM, and EDS of concrete mixtures were investigated. Test results reveal that workability, compressiveand split tensile strength improve with increment in percentage replacement of FA, CS, and CBA. Improvement instrength with the percentage replacement is also confirmed by change in morphology by SEM and X-ray diffraction analyses.