Abstract
Long-term performance of secondary materials is becoming a challenging aspect in road construction because, as a result of their benefits, they are being used on a large scale. The problem with these materials, however, is that their future behaviors are difficult to estimate. In this study, aging is proposed as a means of exploring the long-term mechanical and physical performance of secondary materials. A blast furnace slag (BFS) mixture, which is routinely used in the Netherlands in road (sub-)base construction, was selected as a reference material. A motorway in the Netherlands was used as a source of field-aged BFS materials. The base layer of this motorway suddenly experienced serious failures. To prevent similar problems, an aging method was suggested to detect potential poor material performance at an early stage. The steam aging approach was chosen and applied to the field-aged and fresh materials. This aging treatment has affected material characteristics. This showed that there is a linkage between material performance, mixture composition, and aging conditions.
