Enhancement of concrete properties for pavement slabs using waste metal drillings and silica fume.

This paper presents a comparative study on the effects of steel fibres and waste metal drillings on the mechanical/physical behaviour of conventional and silica fume concrete. The amount of silica fume used was 10% of cement by mass and the amount of steel fibres and metal drillings used in both concrete mixtures was 0.5% by concrete volume for steel fibres and 0.0, 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75% for metal drillings, respectively. In total, 10 different mixtures were made and tested for compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, flexural strength and toughness. Our data reveal the significant impact of the effect of silica fume, steel fibres and industrial waste metal drillings on the mechanical and physical characteristics of concrete mixtures. The results also show that mixtures with steel fibres and waste metal drillings have comparable behaviour. Hence, there is a potential for use of waste metal drillings as an alternative to steel fibres for specific cases such as concrete pavement slabs.