Cupola slag as a green concrete-making material and its performance characteristics - A review

Cupola slag, a non-toxic and harmless industrial waste, has recently piqued the interest of researchers as a green building material. This paper reviews the potential use of cupola slag as a supplementary cementitious material, fine aggregate, and coarse aggregate in cement-based concrete composites. Moreover, this paper provides a holistic approach to the review of appropriate literature from the last two decades, critically examines the characteristics of cupola slag and the impacts of partial substitution on performance, and conducts a gap analysis to specify the direction of further research on cupola slag-based concrete. From the environmental perspective, the earth's ecological and environmental balance can be achieved by employing cupola slag in concrete manufacturing rather than natural resources. In terms of replacement rate and replacement method, the fresh performance, mechanical property, and durability of cupola slag-based concrete are reviewed. In conclusion, cupola slag can effectively increase the strength, water permeation resistance, resistance to aggressive environments, chloride ion penetration resistance, and other durability attributes of concrete when used as a partial replacement for cement or aggregate. The process to enhance pozzolanic behaviour, long-term mechanical and durability qualities, and microstructural analysis of cupola slag-based concrete need to be further explored, according to the gap analysis of the data from the literature.