Research on the Influence of Cellulose Fiber on the Performance of Steel Slag Cement Cementitious Materials

Abstract

The combination of steel slag and cement to prepare green cement-based materials can help with environmental pollution issues, but the effectiveness of the products suffers versus cement without steel slag. This paper investigates the influence of cellulose fiber on the rheological properties, mechanical properties, and volume stability of steel slag cement cementitious materials. The results demonstrate that when cellulose fiber content increases, the slurry’s rheological properties improve. When the cellulose fiber content was less than 0.5%, the strength of the samples at each age increased with the increased fiber content. At the same time, compared with the control blank group, the autoclave expansion rate of the samples was reduced by a maximum of 27.31%. When the fiber volume content exceeded 0.5%, the mechanical strength of the samples started to decline. The SEM results showed that the fibers inside the samples were entirely covered by hydration products after 28 days of hydration. The hydration products were primarily Ca(OH)2 crystals and C-S-H, which tightly bonded the fibers and the matrix, enhancing the performance of the samples.