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Properties of lightweight aggregates produced with cold-bonding

pelletization of fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag

Article in Materials and Structures · October 2012

DOI: 10.1617/s11527-012-9855-9

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Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546
DOI 10.1617/s11527-012-9855-9

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Properties of lightweight aggregates produced

with cold-bonding pelletization of fly ash and ground
granulated blast furnace slag
Mehmet Gesoğlu • Erhan Güneyisi •

Hatice Öznur Öz

Received: 9 August 2011 / Accepted: 10 March 2012 / Published online: 24 April 2012
Ó RILEM 2012

Abstract Pelletization is a worldwide process used LWAs produced from the blend of 40 % slag, 40 %
in producing artificial aggregates although its usage is FA-A and 20 % PC.
not common in Turkey. In this study, lightweight
aggregates (LWAs) were manufactured through cold- Keywords Fly ash
Ground granulated blast furnace
bonding pelletization of ground granulated blast slag
Lightweight aggregate (LWA)
Lightweight
furnace slag (G) and two types of fly ash with different concrete (LWC)
Pelletization
finenesses (Fly ash A and B). Ordinary Portland
cement (PC) was used as a binder at varying amounts
from 5 to 20 % by weight. A total of 20 cold-bonded
lightweight aggregates were produced at room tem-
perature with different combinations of PC, FA and/or 1 Introduction
G. The hardened aggregates were tested for specific
gravity, water absorption, and crushing strength. Throughout the twenty-first century, the demand for
Thereafter, lightweight concretes (LWCs) were pro- the lightweight concrete has increased with the
duced with water to cement ratio of 0.50 and a cement improvement of technology and the complicated
content of 400 kg/m3 by using such lightweight constructions. Environmental impacts and economical
aggregates. The hardened concretes were tested for considerations have had a great role in the utilization
compressive strength at 28 and 56 days to explore the of waste material as well as better performance
effect of aggregate types on the compressive strength characteristics. Using waste materials for the produc-
development. Test results revealed that the amount of tion of lightweight aggregate has a promising future
cement content had a significant effect on the strength due to the increasing interest and the need for
of LWAs which in turn governed the variation in recycling waste product [13, 22]. Artificial lightweight
compressive strength of the LWCs. The highest 28 and aggregates made from waste materials have a positive
56-day compressive strengths of 43 and 51 MPa, influence on the environment, the community, and the
respectively were achieved for the concretes including construction industry. The benefits of using waste
materials can be summarized as follows: First, without
using natural aggregates, natural resources are not
depleted and damaging activities of aggregate mining
M. Gesoğlu (&)
E. Güneyisi
H. Ö. Öz
are prevented. The aggregates produced with waste
Department of Civil Engineering, Gaziantep University,
27310 Gaziantep, Turkey materials can be lighter compared to the natural
e-mail: mgesoglu@gantep.edu.tr aggregate, which in turn leads to lightweight concrete
1536 Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546

produced using such aggregates. In addition, the rotating finned drum and treating the molten slag
emissions of greenhouse gases reduce as the need for with a controlled amount of water to produce porous
large quantities of cement is decreased [9]. aggregate similar to pumice. Robinson (2005) pro-
Turkey, like most of the other industrialized duced cold-bonded LWA from blast furnace flue
countries, generates large amounts of waste material dust by using Portland cement and various metal-
such as fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast lurgical by-products. In this study, thermal behaviors
furnace slag (GGBFS) from a wide variety of indus- of pellets were investigated.
tries. Fly ash is a by-product of the burning of coal for As aggregates occupy 60–70 % of volume in
power generation and Turkey produces more than 15 concrete, they have an important role on both
million tons of FA [21]. In addition, GGBFS is a by- mechanical and durability properties of concrete.
product during the manufacture of iron and steel. Therefore, the properties of lightweight concrete
Approximately, 600,000 tons of GGBFS is produced (LWCs) are widely affected by the amount and the
annually in Turkey [3]. Unfortunately, only few properties of the LWAs used in the concrete [5, 8].
amounts of them are utilized in the construction Strength of the LWA is one of the most important
industry and for other purposes. Using such by- parameter affecting the mechanical properties of the
products for lightweight aggregate production is a concrete. The stress distribution varies greatly depend-
feasible way in recycling of waste materials. Manu- ing on the shape of agglomerate and the strain leading
facturing artificial lightweight aggregates can be to failure is consequently not known [5]. Therefore, it
achieved by cold bonding, autoclaving or sintering is difficult to measure the strength of LWA because of
procedures [1, 2, 5–7, 11, 19]. its spherical shape. The density is generally used for
Some LWAs produced by crushing expanded characterization of LWA properties. Zhang and Gjorv
clay, slates or shale have irregular shapes. However, [24] have showed that the strength of high perfor-
cold bonding or pelletization is a process for making mance lightweight concretes with a compressive
pellets having spherical shape of powder material. strength of as high as 100 MPa is influenced by the
This process provides minimum energy consumption density of LWA. Several experimental studies [10, 20]
that is more economical one compared to the other have been conducted to investigate how the aggregate
methods. As a result, the agglomeration of fly ash or type and its volume fraction affect the properties of
GGBFS with Portland cement and/or lime is LWCs. It is concluded that the compressive strength of
acquired at room temperature by using water acting LWCs are strongly affected by the material and binder
as coagulant [1, 2, 5–7]. Bonding process of the type of LWAs as well as its volume fraction in the total
powder materials to produce lightweight aggregate is concrete volume.
difficult to predict, as a matter of the fact that The main objective of this study is to investigate the
different factors depend on each other during the effects of material type, particle fineness, and binder
pelletization process. Baykal and Doven [2] reported content on the properties of the LWAs. Moreover, the
that the density and strength of the fly ash light- mechanical properties of the concretes containing
weight aggregates are substantially influenced by the LWA were investigated in terms of compressive
mechanical factors such as speed and angle of disc strength development. For this purpose, 20 different
or drum. In addition, Ramamurthy and Harikrishnan types of aggregates were produced using GGBFS and
[15] have revealed that speed and angle of the disc FA with two different Blaine finenesses. Physical
have significant effects on water absorption while the properties of LWAs were measured for specific
size growth of aggregate is considerably affected by gravity and water absorption. Furthermore, the crush-
the moisture content and the grain size distribution ing strengths of these aggregates were determined as
of the raw material. In the study of Manikandan and the mechanical property. In the second stage of the
Ramamurthy [12] it is reported that coarser fly ash study, the LWA were replaced with the coarse normal
exhibits lower pelletization efficiency as compared weight aggregates to produce a total of 20 different
to finer one. On the other hand, the studies regarding concrete mixes. Water-to-cement ratio of 0.5 was used
the cold bonding of GGBFS are very limited. for the concrete mix design. Thereafter, the hardened
Generally, LWA aggregates from slag are produced LWCs were tested for compressive strength at 28 and
by a method of pelletizing molten slag through a 56 days.
Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546 1537

2 Materials and methodology diameter of 800 mm and a depth of 350 mm. It is

considerably important to determine the angle of disc
2.1 Properties of materials used in lightweight plane to the normal adjusted between 30° and 92°, the
aggregate and concrete production revolution speed of the disc changed between 0 and
54 rpm, and the moisture content regulated by
The fly ash used in the study was provided from the pressurized water injection system supply with
Yumurtalık-Sugozu Thermal Power Plant. The chem- the water reservoir for efficient production. To find
ical composition of fly ash is similar to that of Class F out the relation between the optimum revolution speed
type fly ash as per ASTM C618 because the amount of and the inclination angle of disc, an optimization study
CaO is\10 %. To investigate the effect of fineness of was carried out by monitoring pellet formation stages,
fly ash on the pelletization process, the fly ash was the shape and apparent strength of pellets. In the
ground to acquire pulverized fly ash. The fly ashes previous studies, it was determined that the operation
were denoted as A and B according to their fineness. angle of the pelletizing disc should vary from 35° to
The blast furnace slag is obtained from Iskenderun 50° with the revolution speed ranged between 35 and
Cement Industry. During the production of both 50 rpm based on the pelletizer size. [2, 5]. To optimize
artificial aggregates and concretes, a CEM I 42.5 the inclination angle and rotation speed trials have
Portland cement was used as a binder. The physical been performed. For this, various combinations
and chemical properties of fly ash, blast furnace slag between specified operation angles and revolution
and cement are presented in Table 1. The properties of speed with different combinations of the inclination
fly ash-B are similar to those of fly ash-A except for angles and rotation speed were tried out. The produced
its Blaine fineness which is about twice of that of pellets were dropped freely from 115 cm height to
fly ash-A. determine the convenience of the apparent strength of
LWAs [5]. During the trial process, it was observed
2.2 Lightweight aggregate production that for low revolution speed with angles greater than
45, the particles are stuck to the side walls of the disc
The first part for this study encompasses the manu- as a result of adherence created by moisture. On the
facturing process of lightweight coarse aggregates other hand, when the pelletizing disc was operated at
using fly ash-A, fly ash-B, and blast furnace slag via the angles lower than 45 incorporated with high
cold bonding process. This process includes the speeds, the fly ash pellets could not provide adequate
pelletization or agglomeration of mineral admixtures strength due to large pores formed inside.
and cement in a tilted revolving pan at ambient For the efficiency of maximum pelletization, the
temperature [1, 2, 5–7]. The pelletizer used has a pan revolution speed and the inclination angle of the disc
are found to be 42 rpm and 45° respectively, for the
pelletizer. To produce LWA through cold bonding
Table 1 Physical and chemical properties of Portland cement,
blast furnace slag, and fly ash
process, a mixture of powder material and Portland
cement in varying amounts was prepared in such a way
Analysis report (%) Cement Slag Fly ash-A
that the cement replaced 5, 10, 15 and 20 % of the
CaO 62.58 34.12 4.24 powder by weight. After the dry powder-Portland
SiO2 20.25 36.41 56.2 cement mixture of about 10–13 kg was fed into the
Al2O3 5.31 10.39 20.17 pan, the disc was rotated at a constant speed to assure
Fe2O3 4.04 0.69 6.69 the homogeneity of the mixture. The amount of
MgO 2.82 10.26 1.92 sprayed water used during pelletization process has
SO3 2.73 – 0.49 been determined as the coagulant to form spherical
K2O 0.92 0.97 1.89 pellets with the motion of rolling disc [1, 2, 5–7].
Na2O 0.22 0.35 0.58
According to the experimental studies, the maximum
Loss on ignition 3.02 1.64 1.78
strength of pellets can solely be achieved when all of
Specific gravity 3.15 2.79 2.25
the capillaries are filled with water during manufac-
turing process. If the water is less than enough,
Blaine fineness (m2/kg) 326 418 287
entrapped air voids are formed inside the pore
1538 Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546

structure of the pellets. This restricts the capillary Table 2 Mixture proportioning of the materials used in the
action. However, excessive water results in a water LWA production
film on the surface of the pellet destroying the Code number Cement Slag Fly ash- Fly ash-
capillary forces [6]. The optimum water content (%) (%) A (%) B (%)
required for each type of powder was determined
Control-1 0 100 0 0
according to ASTM D2216-10 [16]. Then, the water
G95PC5 5 95 0 0
was sprayed on the mixture with a quantity of 18–20 %
G90PC10 10 90 0 0
by weight depending on the powder type used in the
G85PC15 15 85 0 0
production. The formation of pellets occurred between
G80PC20 20 80 0 0
10 and 12 min in trial productions. The total pellet-
Control-2 0 0 100 0
ization time was determined as 20 min for the
FA95PC5 5 0 95 0
compaction of fresh pellets (Fig. 1). Since class F fly
FA90PC10 10 0 90 0
ash has poor cementitious property, it was foreseen
that the pellets produced with 100 % FA were not FA85PC15 15 0 85 0
suitable for water curing. Although 7 days of curing FA80PC20 20 0 80 0
seems to be enough for sufficient strength, 28 days of Control-3 0 0 0 100
curing was considered to be convenient to provide FB95PC5 5 0 0 95
proper strength due to the slow hydration of FA. As a FB90PC10 10 0 0 90
result, they were kept in sealed plastic bags for 28 days FB85PC15 15 0 0 85
in a curing room in which the temperature and relative FB80PC20 20 0 0 80
humidity were 21 °C and 70 %, respectively. The Control-4 0 50 50 0
curing method adopted in this study is a practical and G47.5FA47.5PC5 5 47.5 47.5 0
simple method to fit the laboratory conditions. How- G45FA45PC10 10 45 45 0
ever, for the mass production; steam curing, autoclav- G42.5FA42.5PC15 15 42.5 42.5 0
ing, sintering, etc. can be considered as more feasible G40FA40PC20 20 40 40 0
ways of curing. At the end of the curing period,
hardened aggregates were sieved into fractions from 4
to 14 mm sizes to be used as coarse aggregate in and blast furnace slag. In Table 2, the letters indicates
producing lightweight concrete. As a result, 20 the type of powder material followed by the numbers
different lightweight aggregates were manufactured designating the weight ratio used in production of
based on the mixing proportions given in Table 2. It LWAs. For example, the mixture ‘‘G40FA40PC20’’
was seen in Table 2 that the LWAs were categorized incorporated 40 % of blast furnace slag, 40 % of fly
into four groups regarding the main material used in ash-A, and 20 % of Portland cement. Figure 2 shows
the pelletization, namely fly ash-A (FA), fly ash-B the photographic view of four reference LWAs
(FB), blast furnace slag (G) and, a mixture of fly ash-A without cement.

2.3 Test on lightweight aggregate grains

The properties of lightweight aggregates were tested

for specific gravity, water absorption, and crushing
strength. The specific gravity and the water absorption
tests were carried out as per ASTM C127 [17]
(Standard test method for specific gravity and absorp-
tion of coarse aggregate 2007). The weight of oven dry
sample in air, saturated surface dry weight in both air
and water were measured and then the bulk specific
gravity (BSG), bulk specific gravity in saturated
surface dry (SSD) condition, and apparent specific
Fig. 1 Fresh pellets at the end of the pelletization process gravity (ASG) were determined. The water absorption
Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546 1539

Fig. 2 Artificial lightweight aggregates with fly ash-A, slag, fly ash-B, and slag plus fly ash-A

capacity was determined by using the weight of lightweight concrete. Sieve analysis, water absorption,
aggregate in the saturated surface dry state and the and fineness modulus for the fine aggregates are
fully oven dried weight of aggregate for a specific presented in Table 3.
period of time. The lightweight aggregates were
submerged in water at 10, 30, 60, and 120 min, 24 h, 2.5 Lightweight concrete production
and 15 days at room temperature and increase in the
weight of aggregate was measured. The crushing For testing compressive strength, a series of 20
strength test was performed as per BS 812, part 110 concrete mixtures were designed at 0.5 water/cement
[14] (Methods for determination of aggregate crushing ratio and a CEM I Portland cement of 400 kg/m3. The
value 1990). Practically, individual pellets were compositions of concretes mixtures are shown in
placed between two parallel plates and loaded dia- Table 4. The lightweight concretes contained a light-
metrically until failure occurred. The sketch of weight coarse aggregate volume of 52.5 % and a
crushing strength test apparatus is shown in Fig. 3. natural fine aggregate of 47.5 % by total aggregate
Crushing test was conducted on particles of various volume. The water/cement ratio, cement content,
sizes such as 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm by using a 28 kN coarse and fine aggregate volume and superplasticizer
capacity load-ring. A number of representative content of concretes mixes were identical, however
agglomerates were statistically tested and the average only types of lightweight coarse aggregate were
of the results was defined as crushing strength or different. A total of 20 concrete mixes were designed
generally named crushing value of lightweight to have a slump of 150 ± 20 mm which was achieved
aggregate. by using a superplasticizer used at appropriate quan-
tity during casting. Concrete mixture proportioning for
2.4 Normal weight aggregate 1 m3 concrete is given Table 4. Lightweight concrete
production requires a special procedure because of
A mixture of natural sand (specific gravity; 2.65 gr/ LWAs’ high water absorption capacity. Therefore,
cm3) and crushed sand (specific gravity; 2.45 gr/cm3) before mixing, LWAs were presoaked for 30 min to
were used as fine aggregate in the production of maintain the saturation and the aggregates were kept
1540 Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546

Fig. 3 Aggregate crushing

strength test configuration

Table 3 Properties of natural fine aggregate were cast. After 24 h the specimens were demoulded
Sieve size (mm) Fine aggregate and transferred to water curing until testing at 28 and
56 days per ASTM C 39 [18] (Standard test method
Natural sand Crushed sand
for compressive strength of cylindrical concrete
31.5 100 100 specimens 2010). The compressive strength is deter-
16.0 100 100 mined by averaging the results from the three tested
8.0 99.7 100 samples at each testing age.
4.0 94.5 99.2
2.0 58.7 62.9
1.0 38.2 43.7 3 Test results and discussions
0.5 24.9 33.9
0.25 5.4 22.6 3.1 The effect of fineness on the pelletization
Fineness modulus 2.79 2.38 process
Specific gravity 2.65 2.45
Absorption (%) 0.55 0.92 Efficiency of the pelletization process was visually
observed and assessed according to the amount of the
final product, namely LWA. It was seen that the
for the outflow of excessive surface water during an maximum pelletization was accomplished in manu-
extra 30 s [6–8]. Total mixing time was approximately facturing the third group lightweight aggregates made
4 min. To realize the concrete casting, the lightweight from fly ash-B due to its higher fineness. Similarly,
aggregates were mixed with the Portland cement pelletization of blast furnace slag yielded higher
followed by the addition of fine aggregates. Next, the amount of fresh pellets such that almost all of the
water including the superplasticizer was incorporated powder material in the disk pan were converted into
gradually to the mixture [7]. Eventually, the concrete LWA. However, using fly ash-A with lower specific
mixture was cast into the moulds in two layers in surface area decreased the amount of fresh pellets,
which each layer being vibrated for a while. especially in the production of the control-2 aggregate,
namely 100 % fly ash-A. Quantity of the unbounded
2.6 Compressive strength test on lightweight materials in the disk seemed to diminish as the cement
concretes content in the mixtures increased. In the fourth group,
the combination of blast furnace slag and fly ash-A at
For the compressive strength measurement of con- different volume fraction increased quantity of the
cretes, three cubic samples of 150 9 150 9 150 mm final product. At the end of the pelletization process,
Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546 1541

Table 4 Mixture proportioning for 1 m3 concrete (in kg/m3)

Designation of the concrete mixtures w/c Cement Water SP LWA Crushed sand Natural sand Fresh density

Control-1 0.5 400 200 2 762.1 239.2 560.7 2,099

G95PC5 0.5 400 200 2 738.2 239.2 560.7 2,076
G90PC10 0.5 400 200 2 734.8 239.2 560.7 2,073
G85PC15 0.5 400 200 2 758.7 239.2 560.7 2,096
G80PC20 0.5 400 200 2 769.0 239.2 560.7 2,106
Control-2 0.5 400 200 2 639.1 239.2 560.7 1,980
FA95PC5 0.5 400 200 2 635.7 239.2 560.7 1,976
FA90PC10 0.5 400 200 2 639.1 239.2 560.7 1,980
FA85PC15 0.5 400 200 2 649.3 239.2 560.7 1,990
FA80PC20 0.5 400 200 2 680.1 239.2 560.7 2,020
Control-3 0.5 400 200 2 652.8 239.2 560.7 1,993
FB95PC5 0.5 400 200 2 666.4 239.2 560.7 2,006
FB90PC10 0.5 400 200 2 680.1 239.2 560.7 2,020
FB85PC15 0.5 400 200 2 686.9 239.2 560.7 2,026
FB80PC20 0.5 400 200 2 686.9 239.2 560.7 2,026
Control-4 0.5 400 200 2 697.2 239.2 560.7 2,036
G47.5FA47.5PC5 0.5 400 200 2 704.0 239.2 560.7 2,043
G45FA45PC10 0.5 400 200 2 704.0 239.2 560.7 2,043
G42.5FA42.5PC15 0.5 400 200 2 717.7 239.2 560.7 2,056
G40FA40PC20 0.5 400 200 2 714.3 239.2 560.7 2,053

all of LWAs except for the control-2 was able to resist control-2. To diminish this difference, the last group
the handling stress. LWAs were produced using a blend of fly ash and blast
furnace slag leading to a 9 % lower specific gravity for
3.2 Specific gravity of lightweight aggregates control-4 LWA.

Variation in the bulk, saturated surface dry, and 3.3 The water absorption of lightweight
apparent specific gravity of the LWAs are presented in aggregates
Table 5. It was observed that using higher amounts of
cement increased the specific gravities of LWA. This Water absorption of LWAs made with Blast furnace
behavior is attributed to the greater specific gravity of slag, Fly-ash-A, fly ash-B, and blend of slag and fly
the Portland cement than that of fly ash or blast furnace ash-A with varying amounts of Portland cement are
slag. As can be seen from Table 5 that the second shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, respectively. Water absorp-
group of LWAs made with fly ash-A had lower tion values were measured at 10, 30, 60, and 120 min,
specific gravity owing to the lower specific gravity of 24 h and 15 days. It was observed that there was a
this material. However, in the third group of LWAs, remarkable rise in the water absorption of LWAs with
pulverization process caused a marked increase in the time, irrespective of the type of powder material used.
specific gravity of LWAs. For instance, bulk specific Higher water absorption capacity can be attributed to
gravity of control-2 LWA was about 1.55 which raised the higher porosity. Moreover, almost 80 % of the
to 1.65 for control-3 LWA. When compared the fly ash absorption occurred at the end of 30 min, particularly
LWAs, those with blast furnace slag appeared to have in the case of slag type LWAs. So, it is decided to
greater specific gravity. Indeed, SSD specific gravity submerge the LWAs in water for 30 min before it has
of control-1 aggregate was 20 % greater than that of been used in production of lightweight concretes
1542 Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546

Table 5 The specific gravities of LWAs

Type of aggregate Specific gravity (g/cm3)
BSG SSD ASG

Control-1 (only G) 1.97 2.23 2.69

G95PC5 2.02 2.16 2.34
G90PC10 2.04 2.15 2.3
G85PC15 2.1 2.22 2.38
G80PC20 2.15 2.25 2.4
Control-2 (only FA) 1.55 1.87 2.3
FA95PC5 1.56 1.86 2.23
FA90PC10 1.61 1.87 2.18
FA85PC15 1.63 1.9 2.22
FA80PC20 1.74 1.99 2.31 Fig. 5 Water absorption LWAs made with fly ash-A
Control-3 (only FB) 1.65 1.91 2.24
FB95PC5 1.70 1.95 2.27
FB90PC10 1.71 1.99 2.36
FB85PC15 1.75 2.01 2.38
FB80PC20 1.78 2.01 2.31
Control-4 (G ? FA) 1.72 2.04 2.53
G47.5FA47.5PC5 1.82 2.06 2.39
G45FA45PC10 1.87 2.06 2.32
G42.5FA42.5PC15 1.91 2.1 2.37
G40FA40PC20 1.92 2.09 2.31

Fig. 6 Water absorption LWAs made with fly ash-B

Fig. 4 Water absorption of LWAs made with blast furnace slag

[6–8]. The effect of using Portland cement was to

Fig. 7 Water absorption LWAs made with fly ash-A and blast
provide less absorbent LWAs, especially the effect furnace slag
being more pronounced with higher cement content
such that higher the cement content, lower the water reactions yields more dense microscopic structure
absorption of LWAs. The reason for this lies in the fact owing to high rate of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–
that higher cement content involved in the hydration H). Moreover, pozzolanic reaction between mineral
Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546 1543

admixture and calcium hydroxide (CH) in the pres- stronger than fly ash aggregates. The type of raw
ence of water leads to further C–S–H which helps in material has a significant effect on the crushing
improving this dense structure. As seen in Figs. 5 and strength value [1, 2, 5]. Class-F fly ash has little or
6 that, the water absorption of fly ash-A and fly ash-B no cementitious property. In the presence of calcium
LWAs without Portland cement could not be mea- hydroxide, it shows similar behavior with cement in
sured. Since the fly ash used in the study was ASTM the way of chemical reactions. As seen in Table 6,
C458 F-type fly ash which did not have any cemen- increasing the cement content made the aggregates
titious property itself, the LWAs grains decomposed in stronger as the hydraulic cement reaction predomi-
water. Therefore, it is obvious that use of class-F fly nantly affected the strength of the LWA. However,
ash is not suitable in producing cold-bonded light- slag is a hydraulic material which hardens itself in the
weight aggregates unless Portland cement has been presence of water. Secondly, high CaO content in
incorporated. At the end of 24 h, the maximum water the slag is activated by the Portland cement used in the
absorption capacity occurred as 17.6 % in FA95PC5 agglomeration that accounts for the higher crushing
LWA. strength [4, 7]. Moreover, the capillary force created
during pelletization process and reduced void ratio led
3.4 The crushing strength of lightweight to stronger slag aggregates [1, 2, 5–7, 11, 22]. The test
aggregates results of crushing strength value for LWA conformed
to the specific gravity and the water absorption values.
Table 6 shows the crushing strength values of LWAs Higher specific gravity, lower water absorption indi-
with a diameter ranging from 6 to 12 mm. Irrespective cates stronger aggregates. When the fineness of the fly
of the grain size, slag aggregates appeared to be much ash used in the pelletization process is considered it is
observed that the finer particles provided higher
crushing strength. Table 6 demonstrated that fly ash-
Table 6 The crushing strength values of LWAs
B aggregates had higher crushing strength values than
Type of aggregate Crushing strength value (N) those of fly ash-A aggregates, irrespective of cement
Diameter (mm) content as well as aggregate size.
6 8 10 12
3.5 Compressive strength of lightweight concretes
Control-1 (only G) 100 180 200 368
G95PC5 280 360 370 720 The density of LWA is not enough to characterize the
G90PC10 400 480 630 820 compressive strength of LWC on its own because the
G85PC15 560 650 740 1010 same density does not lead to the same LWC strength
G80PC20 700 780 830 1070 [23]. The porosity of LWA has a significant effect on
Control-2 (only FA) 30 50 62 65 the strength of LWC. Kayali [9] showed that the
FA95PC5 50 110 136 170 compressive strength of LWC is based on the water
FA90PC10 96 226 355 405 absorption capacity, strength and particle size distri-
FA85PC15 130 272 365 450 bution of LWA. Figures 8, 9, 10, 11 display the test
FA80PC20 185 385 400 460 results of compressive strength at 28 and 56 days. It
Control-3 (only FB) 30 60 72 100 can be concluded that the compressive strength of
FB95PC5 75 103 166 210 LWC varies depending on the specific gravity, poros-
FB90PC10 110 230 295 350 ity, and crushing strength of LWAs provided that the
FB85PC15 190 310 400 560 water/cement ratio and cement dosage being constant.
FB80PC20 200 400 455 580
Even though the SSD specific gravity of both
Control-4 (G ? FA) 90 130 146 190
FB85PC15 and FB80PC20 or both G47.5FA47.5PC5
G47.5FA47.5PC5 180 347 533 653
and G45FA45PC10 are similar, the concretes made
with such aggregates showed significantly different
G45FA45PC10 240 380 540 707
compressive strength. The concrete with FB85PC15
G42.5FA42.5PC15 267 473 720 907
LWA had a compressive strength of 37 MPa at
G40FA40PC20 367 646 866 987
28 days while that of the concrete containing
1544 Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546

Fig. 8 Compressive strengths of LWCs with blast furnace slag Fig. 11 Compressive strengths of LWCs with blast furnace
LWA slag and fly ash-A LWA

Fig. 9 Compressive strengths of LWCs with fly ash-A LWA

Fig. 12 Percent increase in the 28 day compressive strength

according to the control concrete

about 34 and 39 MPa, respectively. This finding

suggests that crushing strength of LWAs governs the
compressive strength of lightweight concretes. As the
cement content within the LWA production increases,
the compressive strength of LWCs become higher
owing to the higher crushing strength of LWAs. Out of
20 LWCs the highest 56-day compressive strength of
about 52 MPa was achieved for the LWA containing
80 % slag and 20 % cement. The concrete with the
control-fly ash-A LWA, however, had the lowest
Fig. 10 Compressive strengths of LWCs with fly ash-B LWA 56-day compressive strength of about 21 MPa.
Figures 12 and 13 show the ratio of the 28 and
FB80PC20 LWA was about 41 MPa. Similarly, the 56-day compressive strength of the LWCs to that that
compressive strength values for the concretes with of the corresponding control concrete, respectively. It
G47.5FA47.5PC5 and G45FA45PC10 LWAs were was observed that the effect of cement content in the
Materials and Structures (2012) 45:1535–1546 1545

(4) It is suggested that use of class-F fly ash is not

suitable in producing cold-bonded lightweight
aggregates unless Portland cement has been
incorporated since the fly ash used in the study
was of ASTM C458 class-F ash which did not
have any cementitious property itself, the LWAs
grains decomposed in water.
(5) The specific gravity in saturated surface dry
condition is similar for FB85PC15 and
FB80PC20 or G47.5FA47.5PC5 and G45FA45
PC10 while the compressive strength is varying.
This finding suggests that crushing strength of
LWAs governs the compressive strength of
lightweight concretes. As the cement content
within the LWA production increases, the com-
Fig. 13 Percent increase in the 56 day compressive strength pressive strength of LWCs become higher owing
according to the control concrete to the higher crushing strength of LWAs. Addi-
tionally, it can also be concluded that LWAs with
high porosity significantly affect the compres-
LWAs appeared to be more pronounced on the
sive strength of the LWC due to internal curing.
compressive strength of LWCs made with fly ash-A
(6) Finally, the use of fly ash, pulverized fly ash, or
or slag aggregates. As seen in Fig. 12 that the ratio for
blast furnace slag lightweight aggregates may be
increase of compressive strength compared to control
alternative to conventional concrete to achieve
concrete was 2.19 in case of the concrete with
more sustainable and environment friendly con-
FA80PC20 lightweight aggregate.
cretes. Also, using of such aggregates in LWC
may reduce the negative environmental effects
of thermal coal-fired power plants and the
4 Conclusions
consumption of limited natural resources.
Based on the findings of this study the following
conclusions may be drawn: Acknowledgments This research was supported by Scientific
Research Project Management Center of Gaziantep University
(1) In order to obtain the maximum pelletization under the Grant number of MF0908.
efficiency, the optimum revolution speed and the
inclination angle are found to be 42 rpm and 45°
respectively, for the pelletizer with a diameter of References
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