Effect of Cupola Furnace Slag Addition on the Characteristics of Ordinary Portland Cement Blocks

This study presents the effect of cupola furnace slag addition on the characteristics of ordinary Portland cement blocks produced from binder pastes. The cupola furnace slag was pulverized and ball milled to obtain a powdered sample of average particle size 9.81 µm and then used in different ratios into cement mixes. The samples were prepared by replacing ordinary Portland cement with 0–75 wt% of cupola furnace slag powder. Water curing was done up to 28 days at 27 ± 2 °C. The resulted blocks were characterized by using XRD, SEM, EDX analysis, and their mechanical properties were determined. The mechanical strength of the admixture blocks was found to increase with an increase in curing time, and the strength of the sample with 25% slag was comparable to the pure ordinary Portland cement sample. The results show that cupola furnace slag can be used successfully to replace up to 25% of ordinary Portland cement for use in the road and construction sector. The admixture would be a green product as it reduces 25% CO 2 emission during cement production. Graphical Abstract