Effect of Iron Filings on the Mechanical Properties of Different Types of Sustainable Concrete

One of Iraq’s major environmental problems is a large amount of residual iron produced by the industrial sector, which is stored in domestic waste and landfills. The reuse of construction waste gives two aims, the first is to remove large quantities of pollution resulted from these waste, the second provides cheap resources for concrete aggregates.

This study conducted a series of experiments and tests to test the feasibility of reusing this iron slag and recycled concrete aggregate in concrete mixtures. Different percentages of iron filings were used in the concrete mixture at 0, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1%. Tests are done to evaluate the quality of cast iron concrete which include compressive strength (f_cu), flexural strength (f_r), indirect tensile strength (f_t), SEM and modulus of elasticity (Ec) for four sustainable concretes.

The results show that the iron filings amount is increased to 1.0% which resulted in increasing percentage of compressive strength (f_cu), flexural strength (f_r), indirect tensile strength (f_t), SEM and modulus of elasticity (Ec) with 10%, 32%, 42% and 11% for Geopolymer Concrete with Recycled Aggregate (GCRA), 9%, 52%,31% and 17% for geopolymer concrete with natural aggregate (GCNA), 10%, 19%,26% and 12% for Normal Concrete with Natural Aggregate (NCNA) and 23%, 19%, 67% and 14% for Normal Concrete with Recycled Aggregate (NCRA), respectively.