LABORATORY STUDIES FOR USE OF STEEL INDUSTRY WASTE IN BITUMINOUS LAYER OF PAVEMENT

Abstract

In India several millions tonnes of Steel Making Slag (SMS) and Blast Furnace Slag (BFS) are generated from steel plants. The safe disposal of these waste materials has become financially and environmentally expensive. So there is a need for bulk utilisation of these materials for road construction. In developed countries like Australia, France, etc., these materials are being used in different layers of pavements. Research in recent years indicates that there is a wide scope for the use of such materials in highway construction. The physical and chemical characteristics also ensures their suitability as road aggregates. Despite of these developments, the use °of steel plant slag in highway sector in India is limited to some experimental test tracks in-base and subbase course only. The main reason for this is the lack of scientific studies, standard specifications and absence of data regarding their long term behaviour. Also physical and chemical characteristics of these slag varies from plant to plant depending upon the method and technology adopted for production of steel in the plant. In the present study SMS and BFS have been used. The suitability of above materials for bituminous mixes like, bituminous concrete (BC), semi dense bituminous concrete (SDC) and bituminous macadam (BM) have been investigated in the laboratory. The results indicate that different bituminous mixes of slag possess high stability in comparison to the conventional bituminous mixes, and meets the requirements of MOST specifications. Based on the study it is recommended That SMS and BFS can be used in bituminous surfacing.