Steel Slag Asphalt – An Ecological Asphalt. Laboratory Studies

We hear talking more and more often around us about waste and recycling. Developed and developing countries pay special attention to the careful collection of waste, their storage and above all, where possible, their reintroduction into the economic circuit. This is caused by the fact that the population of the planet is increasing, the needs are increasing and implicitly the production of waste is also increasing. The sector that produces one of the largest amounts of waste is the metallurgical industry. This paper studies some properties of an asphalt produced with a metallurgical waste, more precisely steel slag. This work presents the establishment of two asphalt mixture recipes with steel slag, the determination of apparent density, water absorption as well as the testing of the specimens to find out the stability and creep. The tests will be carried out in the Laboratories of the Faculty of Construction and Installations of Iași. The results will be presented in the form of tables and graphs and will be compared with the limits imposed by the regulations in force but also with other research in the field. The purpose of this work is to determine if the results obtained in the tests mentioned above for these types of ecological mixtures, BAD22.4 and AB22.4 with steel slag from Liberty Galati from the year 2022, fall within the limits imposed by the regulations in force but also how they compare to the results of older research. The conclusions will show whether these mixtures are compliant or not, and comments will also be made on the performance of these ecological mixtures.

In the context in which different types of mixtures with steel slag from different metallurgical plants, from Romania and abroad, were studied, this study completes the information from the scientific world showing the properties of the asphalt mixtures with steel slag from Liberty Galați in present. The study can have an important economic impact, especially for the areas near the metallurgical plant where the slag is located, thus significant savings can be made in terms of road paving if the decision is made to use asphalt mixtures with steel slag.