Origin and manufacturing

The continuously growing requirements in road safety have imposed higher standards in road construction, especially in motorway construction. Among the factors that are determinant for the final quality of the road pavement, one of the most important is the quality of the aggregates used in the bituminous mixture.

Electric arc furnace (EAF) slag is currently the most widely used road aggregate in the EU.

The main reasons that led to the use of EAF slag in road construction are the following:

• the excellent mechanical properties of the slag aggregates
• unlike steel slag in most EU countries, AEIFOROS hard aggregates present insignificant to no volume expansion due to the production process
• environmental-friendly process, since the recycling of industrial by-products contributes in the decrease of the use of natural resources,
• due to higher mechanical properties life expectancy is much longer than natural hard aggregates
• the lack of hard aggregates in most countries.

EAF slag aggregates pose a serious competition to natural aggregates. They present excellent mechanical and physical properties and have proved their appropriateness as hard, coarse aggregates for the manufacture of antiskid layers. By their use, the behaviour of paving is improved considerably in terms of durability, skid resistance, contributing at the same time in the construction of a safe road network.
Road safety, being of major importance, sets road construction specifications at very high standards, particularly in the construction of highways.

The European use of slag dates back to 1880 when the first concrete blocks with slag aggregates were introduced. Since then the evolution in slag recycling has been gradually increasing, with the increase in the production of steel demand and, as such, the increase in slag production.
AEIFOROS S.A. has been involved in hard aggregate production from electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag since 2001. The EAF slag is an industrially-produced stone, which, after the proper processing, makes an excellent material for the antiskid course in road pavement construction; the use of it, is part of steel industry best practices, internationally recognized and  applied in many European countries.
Meeting the highest standards for aggregate production and showing remarkable environmental concern, the company AEIFOROS S.A. operates today three state-of-the-art slag aggregates production facilities, two in Greece and one in Bulgaria. About 250.000 tons of EAF slag are annually processed in those three facilities while the total production capacity reaches 450.000 tons.
The quality of hard aggregates produced in our facilities is our main priority, and is ensured through staff experience, our know-how and the excellence and consistency of production organization.
AEIFOROS S.A. is one of the few companies in Greece that produces slag aggregates for bituminous mixtures and skid-resistant courses for motorways and highways, airfields and other trafficked area, certified according to CE EN 13043, as well as aggregates for road construction certified according to CE 13242. Furthermore, the Quality Management System of the enterprise has been assessed and found in conformity with the requirements of the standards ELOT EN ISO 9001:2008. AEIFOROS' hard aggregates have also received the first price in the category "Ecological Product" in the greek competition of the European Business Awards for the Environment in 2006.