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Performance of alkali-activated slag individually incorporated with two nanozinc sources

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Abstract

The role of nanozinc source (nanohydrozincite: nHZ; nanozinc oxide: nZO) on the performance of alkali-activated slag (AAS) was explored for the first time in the present work. The results showed that nHZ with different contents (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt%) retards the early hydration rate of AAS, whereas nZO showed the lowest retardation effect. Zn(OH)2 is the main retarder inside AAS-nZO and AAS-nHZ, which consumes the dissolved Ca2+ (responsible for the early hardening of AAS) from slag to yield calcium zincate hydrate (CZH). The high retardation rate of nHZ is originated from its high affinity to consume much Ca2+ through the formation of additional pirssonite (Na2CO3.CaCO3.2H2O) double salt. Although adding nHZ induced the drying shrinkage of AAS, it improved the later compressive strengths (28 to 365 days), especially at low nHZ content (0.5 wt%), via the formation of CASH with lower Ca/Si ratio and higher binding capacity compared to that formed inside AAS and AAS-nZO. A further research is needed to reduce the drying shrinkage and to accelerate the early strength of AAS containing nHZ.

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Funding

The authors express their sincere gratitude for the financial support provided by the Deanship of The Scientific Research at the University of Jordan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

    Hussein Al-kroom

  2. Structural Engineering Department, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

    Mohamed Abd Elrahman

  3. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Mohammed A. Arif

  4. Future University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt

    Aya H. Mohammed

  5. Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Morelia, Mexico

    Salomon R. Vasquez-Garcia

  6. Raw Building Materials and Processing Technology Research Institute, Housing and Building National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    Hamdy A. Abdel-Gawwad

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  1. Hussein Al-kroom
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  2. Mohamed Abd Elrahman
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  3. Mohammed A. Arif
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  4. Aya H. Mohammed
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  5. Salomon R. Vasquez-Garcia
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  6. Hamdy A. Abdel-Gawwad
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Contributions

Hussein Al-kroom: methodology; formal analysis; data curation; funding acquisition. Mohamed Abd Elrahman: methodology; investigation; formal analysis. Mohammed A. Arif: validation; resources; software; formal analysis. Aya H. Mohammed: methodology; funding acquisition. Salomon R. Vasquez-Garcia: investigation; funding acquisition. Hamdy A. Abdel-Gawwad: conceptualization; original draft; writing—review & editing; methodology; project administration.

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Correspondence to Hamdy A. Abdel-Gawwad.

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Al-kroom, H., Elrahman, M.A., Arif, M.A. et al. Performance of alkali-activated slag individually incorporated with two nanozinc sources. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 24088–24100 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23933-6

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