Investigation of Abrasion Resistance of Steel Furnace Slag as Ballast in Railway Tracks

Development of steel industries leads to high volume of steel furnace slag production, which is now accumulated in surrounding of many steel plants all over the world. Not only considering the sustainable development based on environment maintenance, but also the steel furnace slag’s unique physical and mechanical properties has made it an important product for civil engineering applications. Furthermore, providing railway ballastas a main part of ballasted railway tracks generally from natural materials can endanger the environment causing the acquiring of ballast material replacement essential. In a response to this need, feasibility of using steel furnace slag as ballast in railway tracks is investigated in this research concentrating on abrasion resistance. Ballast materials should be resistant enough to keep quality due to continuous operation of railway tracks in allseasons and weather conditions. Other properties of steel furnace slag to be used as ballast in railway tracks has been adequately investigated in literature; hence, the focus of this paper is on abrasion resistance of steel furnace slag. For this purpose, in an experimental study, abrasion resistance of steel furnace slag was studied using Los Angeles and Micro-Deval tests and compared with current standards in railway and transportation engineering. Results indicate that steel furnace slag in abrasion resistance points of view meet standards requirement besides its other advantages to be substituted with ballast in railway tracks.

کلیدواژه ها:

Ballast ، Steel Furnace Slag ، Abrasion Resistance ، Laboratory Tests