Investigating the effect of using steel slag on abrasion resistance of roller-compacted concrete pavement

Today, the use of roller compacted concrete pavement is increasing due to the special features of this type of pavement. In addition, various researchers are trying to use waste and by-products as alternative materials in road construction to help reduce environmental impact and promote a circular economy. Steel slag is one of these products. In this paper, the effect of steel slag on the abrasion resistance of roller compacted concrete has been investigated. The samples were divided into three categories. In the first group, control samples were made with pure materials. Samples containing slag were then divided into two groups. In the first group, once coarse slag aggregates, again fine slag aggregates and then a combination of coarse and fine slag replaced pure materials in the control mixture. Then, compressive strength tests, Cantabro, Böhme and Wide wheel abrasion were performed on the samples in 28 and 90 days. In the second group, first a compressive strength of 30 MPa was obtained by combining coarse and fine slag. Then, with the same mixing scheme, once fine pure aggregates and once again only pure coarse aggregates replaced steel slag materials. As in the first group, the second group tests were performed in 28 and 90 days. The experimental results showed that the addition of slag increased the compressive strength by 50%. Abrasion test results also showed a 21% improvement in wide wheel abrasion resistance, a 25% improvement in the Cantabro abrasion test, and a 40% improvement in abrasion resistance in the Böhme index. Also, laboratory results in 90 day samples showed better results than 28 day samples. The relationship between compressive strength with Cantabro, Böhme and Wide wheel abrasion tests was investigated. The results showed that compressive strength has a strong correlation with abrasion resistance. Statistical analysis showed that compressive strength had the highest correlation with wide wheel abrasion, Cantabro abrasion and Böhme abrasion, respectively.