Utilisation of Copper Slag Waste and Heavy-weight Aggregates for Production of Pre-cast shielding Concrete Elements

Abstract

Concrete as a versatile building material can provide physical and biological shielding against ionizing radiation. In addition to nuclear reactor covers, facilities requiring radiation protection are radiological and X-ray laboratories in hospitals or health centres. The function of radiation protection can be met by heavyweight concrete, whose shielding properties are largely derived from the high-density aggregates. One of the possible construction methods of shielding walls in healthcare buildings is the use of precast concrete blocks. For this purpose, research on a concrete having a density in the air-dry state of higher than 3200 kg/m 3 using barite, magnetite and basalt as coarse aggregate and copper slag waste (from by-product of the process of copper extraction by smelting) as fine aggregate has been performed. The copper slag waste has been used, among others, as an abradant in the surface sandblasting process but after such usage it is considered to be a waste and as indicated by pilot research, it can be a good substitute for sand in concrete. Mechanical properties, water absorption and sorptivity of heavyweight concrete so produced were compared with reference concrete prepared with crushed amphibolite as coarse aggregate and quartz sand as fine aggregate. The suitability of copper slag waste for making small precast shielding concrete elements is confirmed. The compressive strength of heavyweight concrete mixtures with copper slag waste was sufficient for the intended applications. The copper slag concrete had lower water absorption and sorptivity than concrete prepared with sand. An economic analysis of the costs of producing concrete with a density higher than 3200 kg/m 3 with or without copper slag waste showed that the copper slag concrete, regardless of the type of heavyweight aggregate used, is clearly more economical than the concrete of the compositions reported in the literature containing similar coarse aggregates and sand as the fine aggregate.

Effect of Partial Substitution of Fine Aggregate with Copper Slag on Mechanical and Durability of High Performance Concrete-A Review

“…45 An economic analysis of the costs of producing concrete with a density higher than 3200kg/m 3 with or without copper slag waste showed that the copper slag concrete, regardless of the type of heavy-weight aggregate used, is clearly more economical than the concrete containing similar coarse aggregates and sand as a fine aggregate. 46…”

“…54 The presence and absence of SF both showed a continual increase in the resistance to chloride penetration from the conventional concretes to the high strength concretes. 46 The copper slag admixed concrete is considered under the grouping of "very low" as per ASTM C1202 chloride penetration values indicating its low permeability. 56 The rapid chloride penetrability (AASHTO T277 and ASTM C 1202) of concretes studied show that mineral admixtures admixed concrete due to its denser pore structure confirmed best resistivity towards chloride ingression as compared to normal concrete.…”

Holistic Analysis of Waste Copper Slag Based Concrete by Means of EIPI Method

“…However, it can be utilised again, and its potential applications are described, amongst others, in [10,11]. Due to its composition and physical form, copper slag can be used in the production of concrete as a partial or total substitute for sand [12][13][14][15] even in lightweight concrete [16]. In contrast to e.g., fine fractions of recycled concrete aggregate, the material is also suitable for the production of high-quality concrete, without compromising its quality, and some properties even improve in comparison with concrete manufactured with sand [17,18].…”

Influence of partial replacement of sand with copper slag on the thermal properties of hardened concrete

“…Copper slag as fine aggregate is widely used. Its use was tested both in lightweight concrete and in prefabricated heavy concrete elements (Kubissa, Jaskulski, Ng, & Chen, 2018). Its pozzolanic properties and synergic increase in mechanical properties of material when used together with fly ash make it a valuable material for the preparation of CLSM mixtures with very low cement content (Jaskulski & Kubissa, 2019).…”