International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
Volume- 3, Issue-9, Sept.-2015
COMPARISON OF ENGINEERING PROPERTIES BETWEEN PURE
COPPER SLAG BRICK AND SPENT COPPER SLAG BRICK
1
SALMALIZA SALLEH, 2RISHANTHI.T
1
Senior Lecturer of SEGi University, Faculty of Engineering, Selangor, Malaysia
2
SEGi University, Faculty of Engineering, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract- This article presents the comparison of the engineering properties between pure copper slag brick and spent copper
slag brick. Pure copper slag is the waste product of copper ore smelting and refining process while spent copper slag is the
waste product from the process of abrasive blasting of metal surfaces. It is widely used in ship building, ship repair, other steel
fabrication industries, building and industrial fields. According to copper industry report in the year 2010, for every ton of
metal production about 2.2 tonne of slag is generated. Improper disposal and dumping of copper slag will cause environmental
problems. The main objective of this research is to differentiate the physical and engineering properties of copper slag brick
from two different sources which is from copper factory and ship blasting industry. It is a process of adding copper slag powder
in percentage proportions as to replace sand in the brick formation. Five laboratory tests were conducted for this research such
as compressive strength, water absorption, density and specific gravity to differentiate their properties. Although many
researchers have done studies related to pure copper slag but none of these researches compared the properties of both pure
copper slag and spent copper slag concurrently in bricks. Hence, this research explored the possibility of utilizing copper slag
in construction industry, particularly in bricks. From the result of this research, there is scientific evidence that the engineering
properties of pure copper slag is better than spent copper slag.
Index Terms- Pure copper slag; spent copper slag; compressive strength; ship blasting; brick
in concrete making process [Chavan et.al (2013),
Gorai et.al (2003)]. Two different sources of copper
slag will be compared in this research. Pure copper
slag (PCS) is the waste product of copper ore smelting
and refining process while spent copper slag (SCS) is
the waste product from the process of abrasive blasting
of metal surfaces. It is widely used in ship building,
ship repair, other steel fabrication industries, building
and industrial fields. The physical properties of pure
copper slag and spent copper slag from different
researches were recorded in Table 1 and Table 2.
I. INTRODUCTION
Copper element is commonly used in electrical
equipment such as wiring and motors. It also has uses
in construction such as in roofing and plumbing. For
every ton of copper produced, about 2.2 ton of copper
slag is generated [Khalifa et.al, 2009]. In this current
situation, 24.6 million tonnes of copper slag is
generated around the world [Nataraja et.al, 2014].
Previous researches have shown that copper slag may
be used as a substituent for cement or fine aggregates
Table 1: Physical properties of pure copper slag from different researches
Comparison Of Engineering Properties Between Pure Copper Slag Brick And Spent Copper Slag Brick
31
International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
Table 2: Physical properties of spent copper slag from different
researches
Volume- 3, Issue-9, Sept.-2015
hand-mixed with the overall mixing time of 4
minutes. The mixes were compacted using vibrating
table. To determine the unconfined compressive
strength, 60 Perspex brick moulds (215 mm x 96 mm
x 70 mm) were casted for each brick mixtures.
2.3 Testing of Samples
Brick samples were tested after day 1, day 3, day 7,
day 14 and day 28 of air curing in according with BS
EN 771-1, using a hydraulic type Universal Testing
Machine. At 28th day, surface water absorption and
dry density test for brick were done in accordance with
BS EN 771-1.
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Findings of physical properties of pure copper slag
and spent copper slag from this research were
tabulated in Table 3.
II. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL
PROCEDURES
Table 3: Physical properties of pure copper slag and spent
copper slag from this research
2.1 Materials
The cement used was ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
that complies with MS 522: Part 1: 1989. The pure
copper slag (PCS) and spent copper slag (SCS) shown
in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 were taken from a warehouse in
Port Klang and operational ship repair yard located at
Pasir Gudang, Johor (Malaysia) respectively. The fine
aggregate was washed river sand. Sieve analysis test
was conducted in accordance with BS 882:1992 on
three sets of waste samples in order to determine the
particle size distribution.
3.1 Moisture Content
Fig. 3 shows that pure copper slag has high moisture
content compared to spent copper slag which means
the PCS were dry when received.
Fig. 1. Pure copper slag
Fig. 2. Spent copper slag
2.2 Mix Design and Sample Preparation
The water-cement ratio of the mortar was fixed at
0.45. Four bricks mixtures with different sand
replacement from 0% (control cube) to 60% of pure
copper slag were prepared. The constituent were
Fig. 3 Moisture content of pure copper slag and spent copper
slag
Comparison Of Engineering Properties Between Pure Copper Slag Brick And Spent Copper Slag Brick
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International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
Volume- 3, Issue-9, Sept.-2015
Table 5: Compressive strength of cement-sand bricks using PCS
3.2 Water Absorption
Water absorption results were shown in Table 4 for
pure copper slag and spent copper slag respectively.
This proved that the PCS does not absorb water.
Hence, the addition of water in the replacement
mixture may be reduced. Fig. 4 shows the water
absorption rate of pure copper slag and spent copper
slag respectively.
Table 4: Water absorption of fine aggregates
Table 6: Compressive strength of cement-sand bricks using SCS
Fig 4: Water absorption of pure copper slag, spent copper slag
and sand
3.3 Compressive Strength
Fig. 5: Comparison of compressive strength of PCS and SCS
bricks at day 28
The compressive strength test was conducted in
University of Malaya and in accordance to BS Part
116: 1983. The purpose of this research was to
determine the effect of pure copper slag and spent
copper slag as a replacement for fine aggregates in
certain percentages of pure copper slag and spent
copper slag in mixtures on the compressive strength of
engineering brick. Table 5 shows the findings of
compressive strength test for 0%, 20%, 40% and 60%
of pure copper slag as sand replacement, while Table 6
shows the results for the compressive strength test for
20%, 40% and 60% of spent copper slag as sand
replacement.
From Fig. 5, the compressive strength of the bricks
decrease when the amount of copper slag was
increased. The 20% of pure copper slag and spent
copper slag bricks achieved the optimum compressive
strength of 50 N/mm2.
3.4 Density
The result for density of all mixtures with difference
proportions of pure copper slag and spent copper slag
shown in Table 7 and Table 8 respectively. The
density of cement-sand brick slightly increased as
Comparison Of Engineering Properties Between Pure Copper Slag Brick And Spent Copper Slag Brick
33
International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
Volume- 3, Issue-9, Sept.-2015
Table 9: Water absorption of cement-sand bricks using pure
copper slag
spent copper slag content was increased. The density
of cement-sand brick was increased by almost 13.4%
for mixture of replacement 60% PCS as fine
aggregates, due to the fact that copper slag has higher
specific gravity compared to the SCS and river sand.
Fig. 6 illustrates the differences of density for PCS and
SCS bricks.
Table 7: Density 0f cement-sand bricks using PCS
Table 10: Water absorption of cement-sand bricks using spent
copper slag
Table 8: Density 0f cement-sand bricks using SCS
Fig. 10: Comparison of water absorption of pure copper slag and
spent copper slag
Based on BS EN 771-1, the water absorption of
engineering brick class A should less than 4.5%, and
class B should less than 7%. Water absorption of PCS
bricks and SCS bricks for every percentage
replacement are lower than 7%.
Fig 6. Comparison of density of PCS and SCS bricks
3.5 Water Absorption of Brick
CONCLUSION
Water absorption of brick is a very crucial property.
Higher water absorption signifies that the brick have
high porosity. The water absorption of the
cement-sand brick using PCS and SCS is shown in
Table 9 and Table 10 respectively.
This paper presented a research study on the
comparison of engineering properties of pure copper
slag and spent copper slag as fine aggregates
Comparison Of Engineering Properties Between Pure Copper Slag Brick And Spent Copper Slag Brick
34
International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
[4]
replacement in making cement-sand brick. The
following conclusions can be drawn from the work:
1) In general, the conjunction of copper slag as
replacement of fine aggregates to increase the
engineering properties of compressive strength may
be due to the physical characteristics of copper slag
and the stronger bond between copper slag and the
cement paste matrix. However, further experimental
works should be done in this consideration.
2) With addition of 20% copper slag as replacement of
fine aggregates into cement-sand brick mixture, the
compressive strength increased up to 9.3% compared
to the control mixture on day 28.
3) 40% and 60% copper slag replacement gave lower
compressive strength value compared to 20% copper
slag replacement, which was almost 4.08% lower than
the strength of control mixture.
4) 20% Pure Copper Slag gives higher compressive
strength compared to Spent Copper Slag.
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
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