• Advances in materials Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.219-231
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to investigate the durability of fly ash based geopolymer mortar with and without protective coatings in aggressive chemical environments. The source materials for geopolymer are Fly ash and Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) and they are considered in the combination of 80% & 20% respectively. Two Molarities of NaOH solution were considered such as 8M and 10M. The ratio of binder to sand and Sodium silicate to Sodium hydroxide solution (Na₂SiO₃/NaOH) are taken as 1:2 and 2 respectively. The alkaline liquid to binder ratio is 0.4. Compressive strength tests were conducted at various ages of the mortar specimens. In order to evaluate the performance of coatings on geopolymer mortar under aggressive chemical environment, the mortar specimens were coated with two different types of coatings such as epoxy and Acrylic. They were then subjected to different chemical environments by immersing them in 10% standard solutions of each ammonium nitrate, sodium chloride and sulphuric acid. Drop in compressive strength as a result of chemical exposure was considered as a measure of chemical attack and the drop in compressive strength was measured after 30 and 60 days of chemical exposure. The compressive strength results following chemical exposure indicated that the specimens containing the acrylic coating proved to be more resistant to chemical attacks. The control specimen without coating showed a much greater degree of deterioration. Therefore, the application of acrylic coating was invariably much more effective in improving the compressive strength as well as the resistance of mortar against chemical attacks. The results also indicated that among all the aggressive attacks, the sulphate environment has the most adverse effect in terms of lowering the strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.427-437
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• 2012

This article presents the effect of replacement fly ash (FA) with diatomite (DE) on the properties of geopolymer mortars. DE was used to partially replace FA at the levels of 0, 60, 80 and 100% by weight of binder. Sodium silicate ($Na_2SiO_3$) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions were used as the liquid portion in the mixture in order to activate the geopolymerization. The NaOH concentrations of 15M, $Na_2SiO_3$/NaOH ratios of 1.5 by weight, and the alkaline liquid/binder (LB) ratios by weight of 0.40, 0.50, 0.60 and 0.70 were used. The curing at temperature of $75^{\circ}C$ for 24 h was used to accelerate the geopolymerization. The flows of all fresh geopolymer mortars were tested. The compressive strengths and the stress-strain characteristics of the mortar at the age of 7 days, and the unit weights were also tested. The results revealed that the use of DE to replace part of FA as source material in making geopolymer mortars resulted in the increased in the workability, and strain capacity of mortar specimens and in the reductions in the unit weights and compressive strengths. The strain capacity of the mortar increased from 0.0028 to 0.0150 with the increase in the DE replacement levels from 0 to 100%. The mixes with 15M NaOH, $Na_2SiO_3$/NaOH of 1.5, LB ratio of 0.50, and using $75^{\circ}C$ curing temperature showed 7 days compressive strengths 22.0-81.0 MPa which are in the range of normal to high strength mortars.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.395-400
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• 2008

This paper indicates the investigation about the development of ET (Environmental Technology) industrial geopolymeric materials from mixture silica mine waste, coal fly ash and alkali activator solution (sodium silicate) by the geopolymer technique at ambient temperature. The results showed that higher compressive strength of geopolymeric mortar increased with a reduce of L/S ratio and increased along with an increase of coal fly ash content. The compressive strengths of geopolymer mortar on low silica of C Silica Mine and K Silica Mine are 18.7 MPa, 20.4 MPa, respectively. Compressive strength of geopolymeric mortar depends on L/S ratio and coal fly ash content added.. Additionally, scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques are used to characterize the microstructure of the geopolymeric mortars. SEM observation shows that it is possible to have amorphous aluminosilicate gel within mortar. XRD patterns indicate the fact that geopolymeric mortar is composed of amorphous aluminosilicate phase, calcite and quartz.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.335-346
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• 2022

Geopolymers are an important alternative material supporting recycling, sustainability, and waste management. Durability properties are among the most critical parameters to be investigated; in this study, the durability of manufactured geopolymer samples under the attack of 10% magnesium sulfate and 10% sodium sulfate solution was investigated. 180 cycles of freezing and thawing were also tested. The experimentally obtained results investigate the durability of geopolymer mortar prepared with fly ash (class F) and alkali activator. Three different quarry dust wastes replaced the river sand aggregate: limestone, marble, and basalt powder as fine filler aggregate in three different replacement ratios of 25%, 50%, and 75% to produce ten series of geopolymer composites. The geopolymer samples' visual appearance, weight changes, UPV, and strength properties were studied for up to 12 months at different time intervals of exposure to sulfate solutions to investigate sulfate resistance. In addition, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), EDS, and XRD were used to study the microstructure of the samples. It was beneficial to include quarry waste as a filler aggregate in durability and mechanical properties. The compact matrix was demonstrated by microstructural analysis of the manufactured specimens. The geopolymer mortars immersed in sodium sulfate showed less strength reduction and deterioration than magnesium sulfate, indicating that magnesium sulfate is more aggressive than sodium sulfate. Therefore, it is concluded that using waste dust interrogation with partial replacement of river sand with fly ash-based geopolymers has satisfactory results in terms of durability properties of freeze-thaw and sulfate resistance.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.179-192
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• 2015

The study presents a preliminary investigation on the applicability of Shirasu (a pyroclastic flow deposit characterized by high percentage of volcanic glass) in geopolymer. Comparative study on compressive strength and internal pore structure has been done between geopolymers with alkali activated Shirasu and fly ash as aluminosilicates. Mortar mix proportions are selected based on variations in ratio of alkaline activators to aluminosilicate and also on silica to alkali hydroxide ratio. From the experimental study, Shirasu geopolymer exhibited fairly good compressive strength. Mix proportion based on silica to alkali hydroxide ratio is observed to have profound effect on strength development.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.418-424
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• 2016

This study is an experimental study on the recycling of bottom ash in coal ash discharged from a thermal power plant. Bottom ash has limited research on recycling because it has more porous and higher water absorption ratio than fly ash. In this paper, the bottom ash was pulverized to a specific surface area of $4,000cm^2/g$ in order to use as a binder, and the flow, compressive strength test and microstructure analysis of the bottom ash based geopolymer mortar were performed. The flow measurement results of the geopolymer mortar showed that the flow rate was improved by increasing mixing water as the molar concentration of activator was increased. Compressive strength increased with increasing curing temperature and molar concentration. Through the microstructure analysis, we could confirm the geopolymer gel produced by the reaction of the condensation polymerization. It is considered that it is possible to make the bottom ash based geopolymer concrete through proper molar concentration of activator and high temperature curing.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2021

In this study, twenty-five geopolymer (GP) mixes were prepared by varying the alkaline solids to Metakaolin (MK) and sodium silicate to NaOH ratios from 0.1 to 0.5 and 0.2 to 1.0, respectively, thus giving a wide range of molar ratios of silica to alumina, sodium oxide to alumina and water to sodium oxide. The compressive strength of these GP mixes was determined for four curing schemes involving oven curing at 100℃ for 24 h and three ambient curing with the curing ages of 3, 14, and 28 days. The test results revealed that for the manufacture of GP binder for structural applications of strength up to 90 MPa, the molar ratio of silica to alumina should be greater than 2.3, sodium oxide to alumina should be between 0.6 to 1.2, and water to sodium oxide should not exceed 12. The compressive strength of ambient cured GP mortar gets stabilized at 28 days of ambient curing. Experimental findings were also corroborated by GP microstructure analysis. The embodied energy of MK-based GP mortars, especially of high strength, is significantly less than the cement mortar of equivalent strength.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.101-111
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• 2016

It is possible that aggregates add on to geopolymer based fly ash to mix mortar and concrete like cement. This is necessary to evaluate mineral composition, particle shape, surface, size distribution, density and absorption ratio for fine aggregates due to few detailed research to examine influence of fine aggregates properties on unhardened geopolymer concrete. In this research, used two different fine aggregates, Jumunjin sand(having quartz, mica, feldspar, pyroxene in mineral composition, more than 96% of total size between -0.60 and +0.30mm, angular shape and rough surface) and ISO sand(having almost all quartz in mineral composition, more than 51% size between -1.40 and +0.60mm, simultaneously varied size distribution, spherical shape and smooth surface). After an experimental result of the varied ratio of Si/Al=1.0-4.1 geopolymer paste, mix proportion respectively applied Si/Al=1.5 having the highest compressive strength to mortar and Si/Al=3.5 having the highest consistency to concrete. Geopolymer mortar by mixing with Jumunjin and ISO sand in varied range of 20-50wt.% showed flow size increase between 69.5 and 112.0mm, between 70.5 and 126.0mm respectively. Geopolymer concrete at an addition of 77wt.% of total aggregates ratio showed that average compressive strength was 32MPa and the consistency was favorable to molding. Since ISO sand observing varied size distribution, spherical shape, smooth surface, low absorption ratio resulted in advantageous properties on consistency of geopolymer, geopolymer concrete can be suitable for using the fine aggregates similar to ISO sand.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2019

Slump flow, compressive strength, flexural strength and drying shrinkage were measured to evaluate workability and mechanical performance of geopolymer. Experimental parameters include the addition of gypsum, blending ratio of blast furnace slag and fly ash and addition of shrinkage reducing agent. Geopolymer using blast furnace slag mixed with gypsum showed larger slump flow than blast furnace slag without gypsum. The slump flow when blending ratio of blast furnace slag and fly ash is 5:5 tended to be larger than the slump flow when blending ratio is 8:2. Geopolymer using blast furnace slag without gypsum showed higher compressive strength and flexural strength than blast furnace slag mixed with gypsum. Compressive strength and flexural strength tended to be higher when blending ratio of blast furnace slag and fly ash was 8:2 than when blending ratio was 5:5. Drying shrinkage decreased with increasing fly ash and blast furnace slag without gypsum, and it was found that shrinkage reducing agent is effective to reduce drying shrinkage of geopolymer.

• Magazine of RCR
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.41-47
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• 2022