Preparation and Performance Study of Steel Slag-based Artificial Aggregate
Jingbin Cui *
School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou-450045, Henan, China.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The rapid growth of industrial solid waste generation poses significant environmental challenges, necessitating sustainable resource utilization and waste management strategies. The development of artificial aggregates from industrial solid waste offers a promising solution to reduce environmental pollution while meeting the increasing demand for construction materials. To address the issues of strength control and mix proportion optimization of steel slag-based artificial aggregate (SSAA), this study takes SSAA as the research object and designs experiments using response surface methodology. It focuses on investigating the influence of steel slag content (A), desulfurization gypsum content (B), and carbide slag content (C) on its 28d single-particle compressive strength, as well as optimizing the optimal mix proportion. A quadratic polynomial prediction model is established through single-factor analysis and response surface analysis, and its reliability is verified by experimental data combined with analysis of variance. The results show that steel slag content and carbide slag content have significant effects on the compressive strength of SSAA, and high contents of both lead to strength reduction. The effects of steel slag content and desulfurization gypsum content on strength exhibit a trend of "first increasing and then decreasing", with steel slag content showing a greater influence than desulfurization gypsum content. The established quadratic polynomial prediction model features high fitting accuracy (R²=0.913) and good reliability (p=0.0055), which can be effectively used for strength analysis and prediction. The optimized and adjusted mix proportion is determined as 55% slag, 30% steel slag, 15% desulfurization gypsum, and 0% carbide slag. This proportion balances construction convenience and economic efficiency, ensuring favorable compressive performance of SSAA. This study provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for the engineering application of steel slag-based artificial aggregate and realizes the rational utilization of steel slag resources.
Keywords: Steel slag-based artificial aggregate, strength, response surface methodology, mix proportion optimization.