An Innovative Admixture to Enhance the Fresh Properties of Slag Pastes

This study reports a new type compound admixture YP developed for slag cement activated by water glass. The effect of the compound admixture on properties of slag pastes, including mini slump, setting time and heat of hydration was examined. It is found that the slump of slag paste was increased from 60 mm to 120 mm by using the admixture. Furthermore, the initial and final setting times of paste with the admixture were 96 min and 132 min, while it only took 18 min and 23 min to achieve initial setting and final setting for the paste without using the admixture. In addition, the results also indicate that the initial peak was delayed for nearly 7 hours and the heat flow of hydration was reduced from 5864 μw/g to 461μw/g, when the admixture was added. It can be concluded that the new admixture is capable of imparting a significant improvement of workability of alkali-activated slag cement with a suitable setting behavior.