Influence of industrial waste and mineral admixtures on durability and sustainability of high-performance concrete

The present research explores the strength, durability, microstructure, embodied energy, and global warming potential investigations made toward cleaner production of high-performance concrete (HPC) using a new composition. For this, various mixes were considered by replacing cement with metakaolin (MK) and silica fumes (SF) while simultaneously altering fine aggregates with industrial waste, copper slag (CS) in 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% at 0.23 w/b ratio. The observations on fresh properties show a decrease in the slump due to pozzolans MK and SF but get compensated by the inclusion of copper slag simultaneously. HPC mixes with 50% replacement of CS revealed the best outcomes in compressive and splitting tensile strengths. Upon testing the concrete mixes against resistance to sulfate exposure, chloride penetration, and water absorption, the durability performance results best for modified mixes having 50% CS substitution levels. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy support a 25% substitution of CS, showing a thickset microstructure with an ample amount of C-S-H gel with negligible cracks and capillary channels resulting in having best-strengthening properties. Overall, decrement in embodied energies and global warming potential has resulted with a reduction in the usage of cement and river sand in modified concrete mixes, ultimately making the production sustainable as well as environment friendly.