Risks of Using Slag Aggregates in Concrete Products for Road Construction

When GOST 17608 and GOST 6665 were republished, the authors prohibited the use of slag fillers, so manufacturers of products produced according to these standards have a problem: the use of only natural inert materials will lead to an increase in the cost of the final product. At the same time, however, this should lead to an improvement in the quality of manufactured products. But is it so? This article presents a comparative analysis of standards for fillers of natural origin and from metallurgical production waste in order to identify the reasons that do not allow the use of slag aggregates in concrete products for road construction. It was determined that most of the requirements for aggregates of both natural and man-made origin are the same, i.e. if the manufacturers observe and fulfill the requirements of the standards for slag aggregates, there should be no risk of reducing the quality of the final product. Then why the developers of GOST 17608 and GOST 6665, excluding from the list of aggregates for concrete materials according to GOST 3344–83 do not give an alternative in the form of aggregates according to GOST 5578–2019. The authors of the article have tried to reveal the answer to this question.