More on Lightweight Aggregates

Lafarge has more than 45 years of slag processing experience and is the largest producer of lightweight aggregate in Canada.  The company processes and markets over one million tonnes of iron-making blast furnace slag annually.  Half of this is expanded into a variety of low-density aggregates that are supplied to customers throughout the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin.

Lafarge processes molten blast furnace slag employing any of three processes: expanding, pelletizing, and air-cooling.  These processes yield raw materials that can be used for many different construction related applications.

In the 1960's, Lafarge developed and patented technology to produce two products: LITEX™ brand lightweight aggregate, a vitrified, hard, lightweight aggregate, and VITREX™ brand pelletized slag, a material that is ground into slag cement.

In the 1990's, Lafarge developed and patented an innovative slag expanding process to produce an even lighter weight aggregate, TRUE LITE LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE™ brand aggregate.  This low-density product is approximately 35% lighter than most natural aggregates.

Applications where blast furnace slag aggregate is used include:

• lightweight concrete masonry
• structural lightweight and semi-lightweight cast-in-place concrete
• low-density precast concrete units
• low-density mortars for radiant heat floor and refractories
• geotechnical low-density engineered fill
• insulating concrete fill
• concrete roofing tile and ballast
• ground cover and soil-less mixes

Lafarge is a member of the National Slag Association.