| Summary: | Recently million tons of cement is produced in Egypt accompanied with million tons of CO2 emission which causes annually negative impact on the environment. Granulated blast furnace slag and silica fume are produced as by-product from iron and chemical industries with limited recycling facility. This paper represents an experimental study aimed to safe ferrosilicon alloy of slag and silica fume to produce cementless binding material using both of Sodium Hydroxide and water glass liquid (Sodium Silicate) as alkaline activator. Experimental program was designed to study silica/slag ratio, percentage of alkali activator, water/binding ratio, incorporation of superplasticizer, and curing condition on the properties of the produced binding material. Compressive strength and mineralogical analysis were conducted on the polymeric binding material to asses the effectiveness of the main variables. The tests were divided into two stages; in the first stage compressive strength was conducted for all mixes while X-ray, microscopic scan (SEM), and infrared analysis (IR) were carried out for the most pronounced promising mixes. The results showed that ratio of 25% of silica/slag is the most effective ratio and 5% of each of Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Silicate was the optimum percentage of the alkaline activator. Additionally the use of superplasticizer is essential as it positively reduces the mixing water and maintains the binding material with acceptable workability.
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