This paper presents the results of an investigation, carried out at the University of Padova Road Research Laboratory, to verify the suitability of a particular type of industrial waste, known as Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel slag, to be recycled in the lithic matrix of cement bound granular material for road foundations.
The physical-geotechnical properties of the EAF steel slag have been evaluated by means of the most significant laboratory procedures of the road technical sector and then compared with the correspondent parameters of a crushed limestone. Hydraulic bound mixtures characterized by the 63% content of EAF steel slag have been formulated in terms of Proctor, compression and indirect tensile tests. The mechanical characterization of the mixes has been completed with the elastic modulus evaluation, through ultrasonic tests.
The results have been extremely positive (compression and indirect tensile strength at 7 days equal to 5.06 MPa and 0.55 MPa respectively), demonstrating the possibility to successfully reuse the EAF steel slags in partial substitution of the natural aggregates, also with low cement content, so reducing the production costs of the mixtures.
