Research on engineering properties of cement mortar adding stainless steel reduction slag and pozzolanic materials

How to save energy and effectively use resources has become the goal of all countries. In Taiwan, except for blast furnace slag that can partially replace cement consumption and achieve the purpose of resource utilization, other steelmaking slags such as desulfurization slag, electric arc furnace (EAF) slag, etc., are in the research and promotion stage. This study added fixed proportions of fly ash, ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS), and different proportions of stabilized stainless steel reduced slag (SSRS) to replace a portion of cement to make environmentally friendly cement mortar. We explore the engineering properties of this mortar with different water-binder ratios (W/B) and different ages and evaluate the feasibility of using Portland materials and SSRS to replace a portion of cement. Experiment results show that using these industrial byproducts to replace cement can improve workability. Under the appropriate amount of 20% GGBFS and 10% fly ash to replace cement, a limited amount of 5–10% SSRS to replace cement can ensure and strengthen the engineering and physical properties of the mortar. Before curing for 28 days, with the increase of SSRS replacement amount, the mortar exhibits more internal pores, which indirectly leads to poor engineering performance. After 28 days of age, due to the later effect of GGBFS and fly ash hydration, the later compactness becomes better and meets the engineering performance of the mortar application specification.