Development of Eco-Friendly PC Sleeper Using Slag

Abstract

Cement is one of the main construction ingredients. On the other hand, it causes the environmental impacts. In other words, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the cement production have been recently one of the main social issues. In Korea, five types of Portland cement are defined and standardized by the KS (Korean Standards), especially high-early-strength Portland cement (Type III) is used for railway prestressed concrete (PC) sleeper in order to provide high strength and rapid hardening satisfactorily at early period.

In this study, eco-friendly PC sleeper using slag was developed in order to reduce the usage of cement and natural resources (fine aggregate) as components of the concrete. Mixing design was done for manufacturing the eco-friendly PC sleeper, in which high-early-strength Portland cement was partially replaced by ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and electric arc furnace (EAF) oxidizing slag was used as an alternative to fine aggregate. Finally, the prototype of eco-friendly PC sleeper was released which satisfied the required performance by the Korean railway standards (KRS) and European standards (EN). Besides, and it is hoped that the eco-friendly PC sleeper can contribute the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in railway concrete infrastructure.

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