Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

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Construction and Building Materials

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Alkali activated slag concrete incorporating recycled aggregate concrete:

Long term performance and sustainability aspect
Ominda Nanayakkara a, Chamila Gunasekara b,⇑, Malindu Sandanayake c, David W. Law b, Kate Nguyen b,
Jun Xia a, Sujeeva Setunge b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
b
Civil & Infrastructure Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
c
College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria 3011, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s

AAS–RA concrete attained 90% compressive strength produced by AAS–RA concrete.

AAS–RA concrete showed lower chloride permeability and sorptivity in long term.

Extending water curing upto 28 days reduces drying shrinkage of AAS-RA concrete.

Porous external surface is attributed to initial water absorption in AAS-RA concrete.

AAS-RA concrete displayed 52% carbon emission reduction than PC concrete.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Adaption of reclaimed resources within the construction industry, in order to move towards environmental
Received 5 August 2020 sustainability and a carbon neutral society is essential. To address this issue this study focused on the inves-
Received in revised form 3 October 2020 tigation of the long term performance, carbon emissions and coast savings of Alkali-activated slag (AAS)
Accepted 23 October 2020
concrete incorporating recycled coarse aggregate (AAS-RA) up to one year of age. The performance and sus-
Available online 12 November 2020
tainability aspect of AAS-RA concrete was then compared with AAS concrete incorporated with natural
quarry aggregate (AAS-NA) and PC concrete, respectively. Both AAS concretes achieved similar compressive
Keywords:
strength of approx. 40 MPa and tensile strength of approx. 3.3 MPa after one year. Hence, full replacement of
Alkali-activated slag concrete
Recycled aggregate
quarried coarse aggregate using recycled aggregate in AAS concrete did not display any evidence of an
Sustainability adverse impact to the strength characteristics. However, the 7-day and 28-day water cured AAS concretes
Engineering properties demonstrated 32% and 16% higher drying shrinkage at one year in excess of the maximum permissible limit
Carbon emission specified in AS3600. Both AAS concretes displayed high water absorption but low chloride permeability and
sorptivity. A highly porous external surface layer interconnected with numerous capillaries and microc-
racks is hypothesised to be the reason for the high water absorption. Gel formation densified the
microstructure and filled the capillaries in the bulk matrix, which in turn resulted in the lower permeability
and secondary sorptivity. The AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes displayed 43.5% and 52% carbon emission
reduction compared to an equivalent strength of PC concrete having similar binder content.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction kiln is approximately 3.5 GJ per tonne of clinker [1,2]. The clinker-
making process emits CO2 from the calcining process of limestone.
Portland cement (PC) manufacturing process is highly energy Most CO2 emissions from cement manufacture originate from de-
exhaustive and typical fuel consumption for preheating the drying carbonization of limestone and burning fossil fuels [3], and are
responsible for about 5% of the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions
and 7% of industrial fuels use, respectively [4,5]. Total emissions
⇑ Corresponding author. from the cement production contributes about 8% of the total glo-
E-mail addresses: ominda.nanayakkara@xjtlu.edu.cn (O. Nanayakkara), chamila. bal anthropogenic CO2 emissions [4,5], of which 50% is derived
gunasekara@rmit.edu.au (C. Gunasekara), Malindu.Sandanayake@vu.edu.au from the calcination process and 40% from burning of fuel [6].
(M. Sandanayake), david.law@rmit.edu.au (D.W. Law), kate.nguyen@rmit.edu.au China is the largest producer of cement, accounting for close to
(K. Nguyen), jun.xia@xjtlu.edu.cn (J. Xia), jun.xia@xjtlu.edu.cn (S. Xia)..

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.121512
0950-0618/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

60% of global production, followed by India at 7% and USA at 2% 2. Experimental procedure

[7-9]. It has been reported that the cement production reached
4.1 billion tonnes globally in 2018. This represented a 1% increase 2.1. Materials used
following annual declines of 1% during the period 2014 2017 [8,9],
Quarry (coarse) aggregate is another major constituent, which The Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) was a con-
forms 65% of concrete volume. However, aggregate reserves are struction grade slag [31], with a basicity coefficient of 0.81 and
depleting rapidly. The current worldwide quarry aggregate pro- the hydration modulus of 1.5. The chemical composition, particle
duction is approx. 4.5 billion tonnes [10] and ‘‘energy use and size distribution and mineralogical composition of the slag, deter-
greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacture of natural crushed mined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Malvern particle size analyzer
aggregate is around 7.4 to 8.0 kg CO2-e per ton” [10,11]. In addi- and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively are shown in Table 1 and
tion, dust and particulate emissions generated from trucks and Table 2. Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) method by N2 absorption
crushers also contribute to the increase in global warming [12]. was used to determine the surface area. The alkaline activator used
This has led to the adaption of reclaimed resources within the in AAS concrete consisted of a mixture of commercially available
construction industry in order to move towards environmental sodium silicate solution with a specific gravity of 1.53 and an alka-
sustainability and a carbon neutral society [13-16]. Alkali- line modulus ratio (Ms) equal to 2 (where Ms = SiO2/Na2O,
activated slag (AAS) concrete is a sustainable substitute for the Na2O = 14.7% and SiO2 = 29.4% by mass), and commercially pro-
PC concrete, as it emits less greenhouse gases and consumes less duced NaOH (10 M) solution.
energy and water than PC concrete [17]. In addition, the recycled Both coarse and fine aggregate were prepared in accordance
coarse aggregates extracted from construction and demolition with Australian Standard, AS 1141.5 [32]. The river sand, in
waste can be used as a substitute to quarry aggregate in AAS con- uncrushed form with a specific gravity of 2.5 and a fineness mod-
crete. The recycled aggregates are composed of original quarried ulus of 3, was used as fine aggregate. The quarry and recycled
aggregates and mortar adhered to the aggregate surface. The phys- coarse aggregate used in this study was in a saturated surface
ical properties of recycled aggregates depend on both the adhered dry condition: both aggregates were immersed in water for 3 days,
mortar quality and the amount of adhered mortar. In particular, then drained and dried under sunlight for 1–2 h, until remove
the density and the absorption capacity of recycled coarse aggre- water file the aggregate surface. The quarry aggregate was crushed
gates are affected by the adhered mortar [18,19]. basalt aggregate of two-grain sizes: 7 mm (2.58 specific gravity,
The effects of recycled aggregates on an AAS concrete is 1.84% porosity and 1.60% water absorption) and 10 mm (2.62
expected to differ from those of a PC concrete. The unhydrated specific gravity, 1.58% porosity and 0.74% water absorption). The
cement portion in recycled aggregates may stimulate the hydra- recycled coarse aggregate, Fig. 1, was collected from a construction
tion of AAS concrete and densify the interface microstructure. A and demolition waste manufacturer located in Suzhou, Jiangsu
reduction in the compressive strength of up to 30% has been province, China. The original recycled coarse aggregate had various
reported when quarry aggregate is fully replaced with recycled types of impurities such as metals, plastics, polythene, wood, and
coarse aggregate in AAS concrete [20-22]. Aguilar et al. [23] cloth; however, all impurities were removed to ensure consistency
reported that the porous and cracked structure of recycled aggre- between the two types of coarse aggregates. The AAS concrete was
gate result in a decrease in compressive strength in AAS concrete. cast using one batch of recycled aggregate to minimise the effect of
The extra water used in recycled aggregate reduces the dissolution inconsistency between the different components of the recycled
rate of the aluminosilicate precursors of an alkali-activated matrix aggregates. The particle size of recycled coarse aggregate was kept
[24]. Sata et al. [25] showed that addition of recycled coarse aggre- between 14 mm and 5 mm and 2.38 specific gravity, 3.5% porosity
gate forms a weakened interfacial transition zone in AAS concrete. and 6.97% water absorption. Demineralized water was used
Moreover, the sorptivity, water absorption and volume of perme- throughout the experiment.
able voids of alkali activated concrete was increased with an
increase in recycled aggregate content [26,27]. Hu et al. [27]
reported that there are excellent correlations between the water 2.2. Mixing, casting, and curing
absorption, sorptivity, and volume of permeable voids in AAS con-
crete with recycled aggregate. The drying shrinkage has been The mix proportions used for the AAS concrete is summarized
found to continuously increase in AAS concrete with time, but at in Table 3. This was based on previous research [33]. The activator
a slower rate after 28 days of age [28]. Zhang et al. [29] showed modulus (SiO2/Na2O in alkaline activator) is fixed at 1.0 while Na2O
that when replacing 100% quarried coarse aggregate with recycled dosage (Na2O in alkaline activator/slag) is fixed at 5%. The required
aggregate the drying shrinkage increased by two-fold. Parthiban slag, alkaline activator, aggregate, and water content was calcu-
and Saravana [30] reported that using 25–75 wt% recycled aggre- lated based on the absolute volume method [34]. The total aggre-
gate in AAS concrete resulted in a shallower chloride penetration gate in the concrete was kept to 64% of the entire mixture by
depth (<14 mm) than with PC concrete prepared with quarry volume for all mixes. A water solid ratio (w/s) of 0.45 was used
aggregate. to prepare the AAS concrete, which gave a consistent workability
The present study investigated the long term (upto one year) of 100–120 mm slump in the mixing process. The mass of water
engineering properties, compressive strength, drying shrinkage, in the mix was taken as the sum of mass of water contained in
chloride diffusion, water absorption and permeability and sorptiv- the sodium silicate, sodium hydroxide, and added water. The mass
ity, of AAS concretes produced with 100% recycled aggregate and of solid is taken as the sum of slag, the solids in the sodium silicate,
100% quarry aggregate respectively. The identical mixing process and the sodium hydroxide solution. Both activators were mixed
was used throughout to enable a direct comparison of the proper- and left 15 min prior to the concrete preparation. For the system-
ties to be undertaken. A detailed microscopic analysis was con- atic sustainability comparison, PC concrete having with almost
ducted in order to investigate the changes of microstructure, equivalent binder content (410 kg/m3) and workability (110 mm
especially at the interfacial transition zone and in the gel structure. slump) was tested, Table 3, which achieved equivalent compres-
In addition, the environmental sustainability and the economic sive strength to AAS concretes.
saving of AAS concrete incorporating recycled coarse aggregate The mixing was carried out using a 120 L concrete mixer. The
was determined in order to provide the translational routes, high- slag, fine aggregates and coarse aggregates were mixed first for
lighting the commercial possibilities of the sustainable product. 4 min. Then activator and water were added to the dry mix and
2
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

Table 1
Chemical composition.

Material By weight (%) Loss on Ignition (%)

SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO P2O5 TiO2 MgO K2O SO3 MnO Na2O
GGBS 36.9 14.2 0.3 36.0 0.4 0.6 5.1 0.1 6.1 0.4 0 0.3

Table 2 The water absorption test was carried out in accordance with AS
Physical and mineralogical properties. 1012.21 [41] standard to determine the immersed absorption.
Properties investigated GGBS Immersed absorption (Ai) is the ratio (%) of the mass of water con-
Specific Gravity 1.10 tained in a concrete specimen and was used to determine the
BET Surface Area, (m2/ kg) 3852 water absorption of concrete specimens. The apparent volume of
Fineness (%) at 5 mm 20.9
at 10 mm 43.5
permeable void (AVPV) percentage is also measured in accordance
at 20 mm 71.9 with AS 1012.21 standard [41]. The three specimens of 100 mm
at 45 mm 96.9 diameter and 200 mm long cylinders were cut into twelve equal
Amorphous content (%) 71.7 slices (i.e. 100 mm diameter and 50 mm height) and tested for both
Crystalline content (%) 28.3
experiments and reported the average.
Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT) was conducted in
mixed continuously for another 8 min until the mixture was glossy accordance with ASTM C1202 [42] and using concrete cylinders
and well combined [35]. The mixture was then poured into moulds of 100 mm diameter and 50 mm thickness. Specimens were first
and vibrated using a vibration table for 1 min to remove air bub- vacuum saturated and then 60 voltage was applied for the migra-
bles. After vibration the AAS concrete specimens were kept at room tion of chloride ion before measuring the total Coulomb passed
temperature (23 °C) for 1 day and then demoulded and water- during a period of 6 h.
cured (23 °C) until being tested [15]. Sorptivity test was conducted by following ASTM C1585 stan-
dard [43] with the size and the initial preparation of specimen sim-
2.3. Testing ilar to the RCPT test. Specimens were then exposed to water
absorption for a period of 9 days and the difference of mass due
Unless being specifically mentioned three concrete specimens to water absorption was recorded. Initial sorptivity and secondary
were tested and the average value for each data point reported. sorptivity were based on the values of water absorption from start
The compressive strength test was performed by MTS machine to 6th hour and the 2nd day to 9th day, respectively. In both RCPT
with a loading rate of 20 MPa/min according to AS1012.9 [36] and Sorptivity tests, six samples were tested for each data point.
using cylindrical specimens (100 mm diameter X 200 mm height). The microstructure development was observed at 28, 90 and
The splitting tensile strength test was conducted in accordance 365 days using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging
with AS 1012.10 [37], using MTS machine and cylindrical speci- employing a backscatter electron detector of 15 eV. Specimens
mens (150 mm in diameter X 300 mm in height) under the loading were cut using a diamond saw to a size of 5 mm in height and
rate of 1.5 MPa/min. 10 mm in diameter. The samples were subsequently carbon coated
The dry density tests was conducted accordance with and then mounted on the SEM sample stage with conductive,
AS1012.12.2 [38]. double-sided carbon tape. Microscopy tests were conducted at real
The drying shrinkage test was performed in accordance with AS time intervals at 28, 90 and 365 days.
1012.13 [39] using concrete prisms (75 mm X 75 mm X 285 mm).
The measurements were taken using a vertical length comparator,
which started on the 7th day after casting. Shrinkage specimens 3. Experimental results and discussion
were kept in a humidity chamber at 50% relative humidity at
23 ± 2℃ temperature during the whole period of testing. 3.1. Strength development
The ultrasonic pulse velocity test was conducted in accordance
with ASTM C597 standard [40] using a portable ultrasonic non- The saturated dry density of AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes are
destructive digital indicating tester with a 54 kHz transducer. 2453, 2457, 2458 kg/m3 and 2265, 2275, 2275 kg/m3 at 28, 90 and

Fig. 1. (a) Recycled coarse aggregate originally collected from demolition construction waste and (b) Particle size distribution of different coarse aggregates.

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O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

Table 3
Mix design details (kg/m3).

Concrete Slag (kg) Cement (kg) Aggregate (kg) Activator (kg) Added Water (kg)
Fine Coarse [Quarried] Coarse [Recycled] Na2SiO3 NaOH
AAS-NA 415 – 784 1040 – 71 46 136
AAS-RA 415 – 784 – 965 71 46 136
PC – 410 615 1100 – – – 220

Note: NA – Natural quarried coarse aggregate; RA – Recycled coarse aggregate

365 days. This data showed that the density of AAS-RA concrete is non-cured prisms showed the highest drying shrinkage for both
7.66% and 7.44% lower than the control AAS-NA concrete at 28 and AAS concretes and reached approx. 1350 microstrain at one year.
365 days, respectively. Recycled coarse aggregate used in this When compared with standard 7-day cured prisms, the AAS con-
study had 8.5% lower specific gravity than quarried aggregate, cretes displayed higher initial drying shrinkage up to 700 micros-
which is identified as the reason for the lower density of AAS-RA train at 21 days, and showed a gradual increase up to 800
concrete. The compressive and tensile strength development of microstrain in next 100 days period. Thereafter, both AAS con-
both AAS concretes upto one year are illustrated in Fig. 2. The com- cretes demonstrated increased drying shrinkage growth and
pressive strength of AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes are ranged from reached approx. 1150 microstrain at one year. This is 32% higher
39.5 to 40.4 MPa and 35.2–37.5 MPa between 28 and 365 days, than the maximum permissible limit of 850 microstrain specified
respectively, Fig. 2(a). The AAS-NA concrete displayed higher com- in AS3600 for concrete applications in Australia [45]. The experi-
pressive strength than AAS-RA at all ages. The calculated strength mentally observed drying shrinkage of AAS concretes is consistent
activity index (i.e. compressive strength ratio of AAS-RA/AAS-NA) with that reported in the literature: i.e. AAS concrete produced
of AAS-RA concrete is 89.1% and 92.9% at 28 and 365 days, respec- with quarried aggregate displayed a considerably higher rate of
tively. The compressive strength of both AAS concretes tended to drying shrinkage as compared with PC concrete [46-49]. However,
increase with time, illustrated by a 6.5% and 2.3% strength gain an appreciable reduction was observed with 28-day cured AAS
by AAS-RA and AAS-NA concrete from 28 to 365 days. Hence, the concrete prisms with both aggregate types. In the first 21 days,
AAS concrete obtained approx. 94% of its ultimate compressive only 300 microstrain for drying shrinkage was noted for both
strength in the initial 28 days, regardless the aggregate type used. AAS concretes. Thereafter, the shrinkage increased with time, but
The splitting tensile strength of AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes the rate of growth is significantly reduced, and gave 945 and 995
ranged from 3.3 to 3.2 MPa and 3.4–3.3 MPa between 28 and microstrain at 365 days for AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes. Though
365 days, respectively, Fig. 2(b). In the one year period, minimal 365d-day readings display a slight increase to the permissible limit
variation of tensile strength (about 3%) was observed for both specified in AS3600, it is considerably lower than the 0-day and 7-
AAS concretes, irrespective of the aggregate type. The calculated day cured specimens. It is observed that the AS3600 standard [45]
tensile to compressive strength ratio of AAS-RA and AAS-NA con- and the CEB-FIP model [50] overestimates the drying shrinkage of
cretes is 9.7–8.8% and 8.4–7.9%, respectivey, at 28 and 365 days. AAS concretes.
This falls within the range of 8 to 12% typically cited for PC con-
crete [34,44]. 3.3. Chloride permeability

3.2. Drying shrinkage The variation in the rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT) in
AAS concretes up to one year of age is displayed in Fig. 4. At
The experimentally measured drying shrinkage of AAS-NA and 28 days, the total charge passed (coulombs) in both concretes is
AAS-RA concretes are presented in Fig. 3. In order to understand in the range of 2000–4000, thus as per ASTM C1202 standard
the effect of curing period, the drying shrinkage test was conducted [42], these can be classified as ‘‘moderate” permeable concretes.
for AAS concrete prisms subjected to 3 different curing regimes: no However, the total charge passed in AAS concretes decreased over
curing (0-day), standard 7-day curing and 28-day curing. The time and fall into ‘‘low” permeable classification at 90 days and

44 3.50
(a) (b) AAS-RA AAS-NA
40.3

40.3

3.45
40.4

Spling Tensile Strength (MPa)

42
39.5
Compressive Strength (MPa)

3.40 3.4
40
3.35
3.3 3.3
38 3.30 3.3
3.3
3.25
36
37.5
37.1
36.9

3.20 3.2
3.2 3.2
34
35.2

AAS-RA AAS-NA 3.15

32 3.10
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Duraon (Days) Duraon (Days)

Fig. 2. (a) Compressive strength and (b) tensile strength development of AAS concretes.

4
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

1500
1400
1300
Drying Shrinkage (microstrain)
1200
1100
1000
900
CEB-FIP Predicon
800
AS3600 Predicon
700
600
500
400
AAS-RA:0d curing AAS-NA:0d curing
300
200 AAS-RA:7d curing AAS-NA:7d curing
100
AAS-RA:28d curing AAS-NA:28d curing
0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375
Duration (Days)
Fig. 3. Long term drying shrinkage development of AAS concretes.

remained stable to one year. The difference between the values (in absorption of more than 5% is considered as high permeable con-
coulombs) obtained for AAS-RA and AAS-NA concretes was mini- crete while lower than 3% is referred to as low permeable concrete
mal suggesting a minor difference in their chloride permeability. [51]. Based on the experimental results, both AAS concretes are
The ability of concrete to resist the penetration of chloride ions is classified as in the high water permeable zone at all ages. Similar
a critical parameter in determining the service life of concrete high water absorption behaviour has commonly been reported
structures exposed to de-icing salts or marine environments. for recycled lightweight aggregate concrete [52]. This is principally
Hence, both AAS concretes showed good resistance, regardless due to high water absorption (6.97%) and porosity (3.5%) of the low
the type of aggregates used. denisity recycled aggregate used to produce the lightweight con-
crete. The apparent volume of permeable voids (AVPV) is referred
to as the percentage of the total volume of interconnected capillary
3.4. Water absorption and soprtivity
pores, gel pores and voids spaces within the concrete. In PC con-
crete an AVPV less than 13% is classified as good quality concrete,
The AAS-RA concrete showed the higher water absorption than
while greater than 18% is classified as porous concrete [53]. The
AAS-NA concrete at all ages, Fig. 5(a). Concrete with water

3200
AAS-RA AAS-NA
3000
2866
2800
Charge Passed (Coulomb)

2600 Moderate Cl- Permeability

2555
2400
2200
2000
1800 Low Cl- Permeability

1600
1369
1400 1282 1306
1200 1255
1155 1125
1000
800 Very Low Cl- Permeability
600
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375
Duraon (Days)
Fig. 4. Long term chloride permeability of AAS concretes.

5
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

11.0 24
(a) AAS-RA AAS-NA (b) AAS-RA AAS-NA

Apparent Volume of Permeable Voids (%)

10.5 23
22.3
Immersed water absorpon (%)

10.1
10.0 9.8 9.8 22 21.6
9.7
21.1 20.9
9.5 21

9.0 20
19.5
8.6 19
8.5 19.1
18.8
8.0 8.2 18 18.2
8.0 8.0

7.5 17

7.0 16
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375
Duraon (Days) Duraon (Days)

Fig. 5. Long term (a) surface water absorption and (b) AVPV of AAS concretes.

trend observed in both AAS concretes is similar to the water 3.5. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV)
absorption, showing a decrease of AVPV with time, but in the por-
ous concrete catogory at all ages, Fig. 5(b). The UPV test is conducted to assess the uniformity of the con-
The sorptivity measurements also can be used to understand crete and the presence of defects, such as voids and cracks, Fig. 7
pore-structure and pore connectivity within the concrete [56]. The UPV data showed a similar pattern to the compressive
microstructure. Fig. 6 displays the initial and secondary sorptivity, strength given in Fig. 2(a), increasing with time, indicating an
of AAS concretes. Initial sorptivity is due to the rapid saturation of improvement in the quality of the material, which would corre-
capillary pores. Many of these capillaries are in the bulk matrix spond to an increase in strength and a reduction in the porosity.
rather than at gel-aggregate interface. As the slag paste is common This can again be attributed to on going gel formation with time
for both concretes, this would explain the similar initial sorptivity The standard pulse velocity of PC concrete is generally in the range
values were observed irrespective of the aggregate type or age. Ini- 3500 to 4500 m/s [57]. This is classified as concrete which is free
p
tial sorptivity reduced over time, from 0.128 mm/ min at 28 days from any large voids or cracks that may affect the long term struc-
p
to 0.066 mm/ min at 365 days, which is due to the reduction in tural reliability. In this study, UPV values of both AAS concretes
capillary pore volume resulting from additional slag hydration. falls into this specified range at all ages, and varied between
These initial sorptivity readings are in good agreement with liter- 4200 and 4469 m/s from 28 to 365 days.
ature, where AAS concrete of 29 MPa compressive strength at
p p
28 days gives a sorptivity of 0.017 mm/ sec (0.13 mm/ min) 3.6. Microstructure development
[54]. The secondary sorptivity of AAS-RA is slightly higher than
the AAS-NA at all ages. This is attributed to the higher porosity Fig. 8 represents the long term microstructural development of
of the recycled coarse aggregate. The recycled aggregate can thus both AAS concretes. SEM analysis is primarily focused on the inter-
absorb moisture during the secondary sorptivity test. The sec-
p facial transition zone (ITZ), which illustrates the bond between
ondary sorptivity of AAS-NA at 28 days is 0.0022 mm/ min which recycled coarse aggregate and gel matrix. The ITZ has a different
is also in good agreement with published research, i.e.
p p microstructure to the bulk gel matrix of AAS concrete, and plays
0.0007 mm/ s (0.0023 mm/ min) [54]. The measured sorptivity a vital role in the long term performance of the concrete. The ITZ
values (initial and secondary) in both AAS concretes at all ages
p p in PC concrete develops due to incomplete packing of the anhy-
are well below the 3 mm/ h (0.387 mm/ min), recommended drous cement grains at the interface with the coarse aggregates
by Ho and Lewis [55]. [58]. The ITZ consists of two layers upto 100 mm depth: one layer

0.160 0.0040
AAS-RA AAS-NA AAS-RA AAS-NA
Secondary Absorpon (mm/min0.5)

0.140 0.0035
Inial Absorpon (mm/min0.5)

0.128
0.120 0.0030 0.0029
0.118
0.100 0.0025
0.0022 0.0021
0.082 0.0020
0.080 0.073 0.0020
0.068 0.0022
0.077
0.060 0.066 0.066 0.0015 0.0018 0.0018 0.0015
0.040 0.0010

0.020 0.0005

0.000 0.0000
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375
Duraon (days) Duraon (days)

Fig. 6. Long term sorptivity of AAS concretes.

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O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

4600 aggregates and gel matrix over the period upto 90 days. The chem-
ically bound water contained in cementitious part of the recycled
4500 4469 coarse aggregate is connected to gel matrix at the ITZ by chemical
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (m/s)

4455
and hydrogen bonds [60]. This strengthens the bond at the ITZ
4400
4405 between the gel and aggregate, as the water can exist in a stable
form within hydration product of cementitious materials on the
4252 4348 4352 4359 recycled aggregate. During slag alkali activation, this water can
4300
take part in the hydration process by reacting with the leached
Ca+2 due to alkali dissolution, and form additional gel. This addi-
4200 4200
tional gel can fill the voids and gaps between unreacted slag grains
and heal the surface microcracks. The 365-day SEM images of both
4100 AAS concretes displayed fewer small cracks compared those
AAS-RA AAS-NA observed at the earlier age.
4000 The compressive and tensile strength of AAS concrete is depen-
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 dent on the aggregate bond strength developed at ITZ. During the
Duraon (Days) testing, it was observed that fracture plane in both AAS concretes
passed around the aggregates. In the splitting tensile strength test,
Fig. 7. Long term ultrasonic pulse velocity changes in AAS concretes.
a biaxial stress is produced by the applied compressive load. A con-
siderably larger volume of the cylindrical specimen is under a ten-
is a porous transition zone of 20–100 mm deep and the other one is sile stress and the remaining small volume is under horizontal
a duplex film at the surface of the aggregate [59]. In AAS concrete, compressive stress. The high packing density together with the
the formation of the ITZ is caused by the incomplete packing of higher bond strength at ITZ resulted in an increase in the ductility
unreacted slag particles in the transition zone between the AAS and failure strain in AAS-NA concrete. This resulted in the observed
paste and the coarse aggregates. The characteristics of the ITZ is higher compressive and tensile strength of AAS-NA compared with
determined by the calcium aluminosilicate gel formation being AAS-RA concrete. However, the bond between the gel matrix and
highly dependent on the degree of reactivity of the slag. Moreover, the old cement paste contained in recycled coarse aggregate
the two layers observed in PC concrete are combined to form the increased over time and compensated to some degrees the nega-
ITZ in AAS concrete. tive effect due to the use of a weaker aggregate. This is confirmed
The ITZ is the weakest zone in concrete, thus will be the first by increase of strength activity index of AAS-RA concrete with
location where cracking occurs. In AAS-RA and AAS-NA concretes, time, achiving almost 93% of AAS-NA strength after one year.
the slag grains are dissolved by the alkali activator and calcium The high water absorption observed in both AAS concretes is
aluminosilicate gel precipitated to form heterogeneous matrices attributed to a highly porous external surface layer with a large
during the first 90 days. The micro cracks at the surface of the number of capillary pores. These capillaries initiate water absorp-
unreacted/partially reacted slag grains and macro-pores between tion through capillary suction at the concrete surface. However, the
unreacted slag grains is observed in both AAS concretes. Further, observed initial and secondary sorptivity of both AAS concretes is
both concretes display a loosely packed, porous ITZ between the significantly lower than the allowable limit [55]. Sorptivity of

Fig. 8. Microstructure development of AAS concretes between 28 and 365 days.

7
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

Fig. 9. System boundary considered for the carbon emission and cost assessment.

Table 4
Emission factors and unit costs for raw materials.

Raw material Carbon emission factor (kgCO2/kg) Reference Unit cost(RMB/kg) Reference
Na2SiO3 0.7800 [71] 4.25 OL*
NaOH 1.4250 [71] 3.40 OL*
Fine aggregate 0.0139 [71] 0.05 OL*
Normal coarse aggregate (NCA) 0.0408 [71] 0.10 OL*
Cement 0.8200 [71] 0.50 OL*
Recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) 0.0109 – 0.06 OL*
Slag 0.0740 – 0.060 OL*

*OL – Obtained locally from suppliers

concrete gives an overview of the concrete pore-structure and lead to the subsequent release of water to the surrounding paste
pore-interconnectivity. SEM images show a continuous bond is which would compensate for the moisture loss due to drying when
formed between the coarse aggregate and gel matrix at ITZ over compared to the natural quarried aggregates. This could cause a
the period of one year, with no wall effect observed. UPV data also delay in the reduction in the internal relative humidity due to dry-
confirmed that both AAS concretes consist of no larger voids and ing, which in turn could result in the slightly higher drying shrink-
cavities. Hence, the continuing densification in ITZ together with age observed in AAS-RA concrete compared to AAS-NA concrete.
the discontinuity in the pore network is expected to result in the
lowering of sorptivity and chloride permeability in AAS concrete 4. Sustainability aspect
with age.
The finer pores and surface connected capillaries would support 4.1. Design methodology
free movement of moisture in the AAS concretes, which is hypoth-
esised as cause of the comparatively high drying shrinkage com- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA)
pared with the predictions based on AS3600 and CEB-FIP. are two well-known emission and cost assessment methods of a
However, with the reaction products generated in ongoing gel for- product or process life cycle [61-65]. According to the international
mation partially filling the pores inside the aggregate at both the standard ISO14040, a typical model requires a cradle to grave sys-
ITZ and in the bulk cement paste, this reduces the porosity of con- tem boundary to capture comprehensive emission results [66,67].
crete and the rate of drying shrinkage. Furthermore, due to the However, previous studies have considered different system
high water absorption of recycled coarse aggregates, this could boundaries to suit the objectives and the scopes of their respective
8
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

studies [68,69]. Thus, the selected system boundary involving the 398
400 NaOH Sand
manufacturing process of Portland cement (PC) concrete and AAS
concretes is illustrated in Fig. 9. This study is systematically com- Sodium Silicate RA
pared the equivalent carbon emission (kgCO2-eq/m3) and manu- 350
NA Slag
facturing cost (Chinese Yuan/m3) of both concretes. The total

Carbon Emissions (kgCO2-eq)

carbon emissions and material cost of concrete production is rep- 300 Cement
resented by Eq. (1) and (2).
Em ¼ em;i  Q m;i þ d  w  ek ð1Þ 250
224.5
Where; Em is the carbon emissions of mth concrete types in 190.9
200
kgCO2-eq/m3 of concrete, em,i is the carbon emission factor for ith
raw material for concrete type m and Qm,i is the quantity of
150
concrete in m3 , ek is the carbon emission factor for the kth truck
in kgCO2-eq/tons-km, w is the weight of the truck in tons and d is
100
the transportation distance in km.

C m ¼ C m;i  Q m;i þ d  TC k ð2Þ 50

th 3
Where; Cm is the Cost of m concrete types in RMB/m of concrete,
-
Cm,i is the carbon emission factor for ith raw material for concrete PC AAS-RA AAS-NA
type m. TCk is the unit transportation cost for the kth truck in NaOH - 69.8 69.8
RMB/km. Sand 11.2 13.8 13.8
In order to undertake a reliable reference assessment to compare Sodium Silicate - 59.6 59.6
results, the study considered the following assumptions: All the RA - 14.5 -
transportation of raw materials is assumed to be using 2–Tonne NA 48.1 - 48.1
truck; The transportation distance of raw materials (i.e. cement, Slag - 33.2 33.2
coarse and fine aggregates) is assumed to be 10 km from the con- Cement 338.7 0
crete manufacturing plant; The disposal site for residual construc-
tion and demolition waste is assumed to be 10 km from the Fig. 10. Carbon emissions comparison for the two type of concrete samples.
manufacturing plant; Slag transportation distance and alkali activa-
RA and AAS-NA concretes are represted in the middle and outer
tor material transportation to the concrete production plant is
circles. In PC concrete, the cement costs 50% of the total cost with
assumed to be10 km; Production process of sodium silicate (Na2-
a value of 273 RMB/m3. In AAS concretes, the cost is consderably
SiO3) is assumed to utilize furnace route production and sodium
increased due to the introduction of alkali activators. The total cost
hydroxide (NaOH) through electrolysis [70,71]; Operation costs
of alkali activators contirbute to 42% of the total cost with a value
and fuel consumption details of transportation trucks are obtained
of 452.15 RMB/m3. Replacement of slag for cement increases the
from local sources for modelling purposes; The carbonisation and
cost by RMB 127. However, this is compsentaed by a cost reduction
carbon sequestration effects in concrete are not included due to lack
(RMB 47.60) thorugh the introduction of recycled coarse aggreagte.
of information and for the purposes of analysis deemed negligible;
The resulting cost comparison demonstrates the importance in
The variation effect of assumptions made on transportation dis-
future research studies to optimise the cost and carbon emissions
tances are investigated using a sensitivity assessment. Based on
in parallel with strength charactersitcs.
the commercial production of Na2SiO3 and NaOH, the carbon emis-
The results in the previous sections highlighted the signficiant
sion factors were obtained [71] and listed in Table 4. In addition, car-
changes in carbon emissions and costs in using slag and recycled
bon emission factor for truck transportation is also included.
coarse aggregate. In order to have a sustianable balance between
emission savgins and cost savings, the effect of variation in
4.2. Analysis and discussion transportation distance for slag and recycled coarse aggregate is

Fig. 10 represents the calculated carbon emission contributions

from specific raw material used for concrete production. The total
carbon emission of PC, AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes are 398, 14%
224.5, and 190.9 kgCO2-eq/m3, respectivley. The AAS-NA and 14%
AAS-RA concretes displayed a 43.5% and 52% carbon emission
37%
reduction compared with PC concrete. When recycled aggregates
35% Cement
is incoorparated, the AAS-RA concrete achieved a 33.6 kgCO2-eq/
m3 (14.9%) of emmision reduction compared to AAS-NA concrete. 32% Slag
PC
In AAS concretes, 129.41 kgCO2-eq/m3 of emission is generated 50% Sand
from commercially manufactured alkali activators, which is a sig- 28% Coarse
AAS-RA
nificant contirbution. The reduction of carbon emissions is due to RCA
26%
the introduction of slag and recycled coarse aggregate in to the AAS-NA
Na2SiO3
concrete which contribute 338.68 kgCO2-eq/m3 and 14.47
kgCO2-eq/m3, respectively. The findings highlight the importance NaOH
of concentrating on mix designs with a minimum alkali activator 18%
component which can further contribute to carbon emission 9%
savings. 12% 9%
The calculated production cost of PC, AAS-NA and AAS-RA con-
cretes are 551, 1130, and 1088 RMB/m3, respectively. The produc- 16%
tion cost allocated for specific materials is illustated in Fig. 11. The
inner circle represents the cost for PC concrete while cost for AAS- Fig. 11. Cost comparison of two types of concrete samples (cost in RMB/m3).

9
O. Nanayakkara, C. Gunasekara, M. Sandanayake et al. Construction and Building Materials 271 (2021) 121512

Table 5
Assessment results of variation in transportation distance scenario.

Reference (R) (10 km) Case 1 (2 km) Case 2 (5 km) Case 3 (20 km)
3
Carbon emissions (kgCO2-eq/m ) 179.96 175.46 177.15 185.58
% reduction wrt ‘‘R” – 2.5 1.56 3.12
% reduction compared to PC 54.78 55.91 55.49 53.37
Total cost (RMB/m3) 1,088.30 978.96 1,019.96 1,224.96
% reduction wrt ‘‘R” – 10.05 6.28 12.56
% reduction compared to PC 97.60 77.75 85.20 122.4

considered. Transportation distances of 2 km, 5 km and 20 km
The AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes displayed 43.5% and 52%
from the production plant is considered to assess the variation in carbon emission reduction compared with an equivalent PC
total carbon emissions and construction cost. The resulting total concrete. The initial cost of AAS concretes is higher than the
emissions and costs are tabulated in Table 5. PC concrete, however, considering the long term performance
The environmental savings in terms of carbon emissions and and durability of AAS concrete it may be more beneficial of
non-carbon emission savings are considerable, which could itself the lifetime of a structure.
be the driving factor for sustainable production within construc-
tion industry professionals. The study used only primary manufac- CRediT authorship contribution statement
turing processes to prepare the samples and with efficient
manufacturing technologies and bulk procurement of materials, Ominda Nanayakkara: Conceptualization, Methodology, Soft-
the cost can be significantly reduced. Moreover, lifecycle cost anal- ware, Data curation, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation,
ysis would be more beneficial to account for the performance and Writing - original draft, Project administration. Chamila Gunase-
lifespan of the concrete structures. Considering all facts, based on kara: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Data curation,
priority, designers and material suppliers can decide the most suit- Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft,
able mix design either to minimise cost or carbon emissions. The Project administration, Supervision, Writing - review & editing,
other important point is that this analysis did not consider the cost Funding acquisition. Malindu Sandanayake: Conceptualization,
savings of diverting a waste material from landfill sites. Further Methodology, Software, Data curation, Validation, Formal analysis,
experiments conducted in the future considering these factors Investigation, Writing - original draft, Project administration.
can find the optimum mix design taking into account both cost David W. Law: Supervision, Writing - review & editing, Funding
and carbon emission savings. acquisition. Kate Nguyen: Supervision, Writing - review & editing,
The current study only considers carbon emissions and manufac- Funding acquisition. Jun Xia: Supervision, Writing - review & edit-
turing costs of the mix design in the sustainability assessment. The ing, Funding acquisition. Sujeeva Setunge: Supervision, Writing -
purpose of this assessment was to initially compare and highlight review & editing, Funding acquisition.
carbon and cost savings with an intention of benchmarking the mar-
ketability of the sustainable product. However, other criterion such Declaration of Competing Interest
as energy savings, life cycle cost benefits, resource usage and recy-
cling and social benefits should be considered in future studies to The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
comprehensively investigate and optimise all the sustainability cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
aspects. to influence the work reported in this paper.

5. Conclusions Acknowledgement

The principal conclusions derived from this experimental study The authors wish to acknowledge the X-ray facility, Microscopy
are: & Microanalysis facility and scientific & technical assistance pro-
vided by RMIT University. Authors also acknowledge the Suzhou

The compressive strength of AAS-NA and AAS-RA concretes are Construction Material Recycling Application Co. Ltd., China, for sup-
39.5–40.4 MPa and 35.2–37.5 MPa at 28 and 365 days, respec- plying recycled coarse aggregates for the project. This project was
tively. The full replacement of quarried coarse aggregate using funded by ARC-ITRH (Australian Research Council-Industrial Trans-
recycled aggregate in AAS concrete attained 90% of compressive formation Research Hub) research grant (IH150100006) allocated
strength produced by quarried aggregate concrete. for nanoscience-based construction material manufacturing and

The high water absorption of both AAS concretes is attributed to the Research Development Fund (RDF-12-03-17) offered by XJTLU.
a highly porous external surface layer connected by many cap-
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