Effect of Slag as a Fine Aggregate on Mechanical, Corrosion, and Nuclear Attenuation Properties of Concrete

A series of concrete maxis were designed and prepared by replacement percentages (0, 5, 10, and 20 wt%) of their fine aggregates by blast furnace slag. Mechanical properties, corrosion in the steel reinforcement, and different types of Nuclear radiation parameters of four concrete maxis were studied. The corrosion behavior was investigated using different electrochemical techniques and optical microscope. Also, three types of neutron energies as well as nine gamma ray energy lines (121.78 ? 1407.92 keV) were used to evaluate the macroscopic neutron cross-sections (?, cm-1) and mass attenuation coefficients (?, cm2/g) of gamma ray, respectively, in investigated concrete samples. The results showed that, the mechanical properties of concrete and the corrosion resistance of steel imbedded in concrete were increased with increasing blast furnace slag up to 10 wt. %. While, 20 wt % was the optimum percentage for the values of mass attenuation coefficients of most investigated ?-ray energy lines in concrete maxis. Moreover, there is no a significant variation of the values of ? for all used neutron energy by adding a different percentage of slag as a fine aggregate in concrete.