Title: Laboratory Tests of Portland Blast-Furnace Slag Cements*

Author(s): Bryant Mather

Publication: Journal Proceedings

Volume: 54

Issue: 9

Appears on pages(s): 205-232

Keywords: no keywords

DOI: 10.14359/11438

Date: 9/1/1957

Abstract:
Laboratory tests of samples of portland blast-furnace slag cements, and of the blast-furnace slags and portland cement clinkers used in their manufacture, obtained from each of the mills making it in the United States in 1955, indicate that the thencurrent federal and ASTM specifications provide adequate assur-ance of performance at least equal to that insured of Type I portland cements by applicable specifications. Portland blast-furnace slag cements, meeting the specifications, frequently have low enough heats of hydration to meet the optional heat of hydration requirement for Type II portland cement of the federal specification. Specifications for portland blast-furnace slag cements do not insure that they will have moderate sulfate resistance, as required of Type II portland cements. The performance of an experimental portland blast-furnace slag cement containing more magnesia than permitted by the specifications, made with a high-magnesia (9.6 percent) slag, was not found to have been adversely affected. Mortar-bar tests suggest that the presence of the slag in the cement acts to keep expansion due to alkali-aggregate reaction from becoming excessive, even when a highly reactive aggregate is used and the cement contains more than 0.6 percent alkalies calculated as sodium oxide.