Study on Performance of Concrete Made with Copper Slag and Mineral Admixtures

Copper slag is one of the discarded material that is found to be having a better scope in concrete technology as an alternate for the river sand. Studies show that substituting copper slag partially for the sand leads to the bleeding which further affects the performance of the concrete. In this paper the mineral admixtures such as fly ash and Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) were added to the concrete containing fine aggregates which is partially substituted with copper slag. An attempt is made to bring down the concrete bleeding and enhance the performance of the Copper slag incorporated concrete. Fly ash and GGBS were chosen mainly based on their global environmental sustainability, cost and durability qualities. Test experiments were designed using Response Surface Method (RSM) to obtain the various trial proportions. Three factors such as Copper Slag, GGBS, and Fly Ash are considered. Three levels of partial replacement are considered for each factor. The levels were 20, 30, and 40% for copper slag; 20, 35, and 50% for GGBS; and 15, 25, and 35% for Fly ash. Test were performed on each trial proportion to study the compressive strength, split tensile strength, chloride penetration and sorptivity properties. The results show that there is considerable improvement in the performance of the copper slag concrete at the optimum dosage of GGBS and fly ash.