• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 2023

The most popular building material, concrete, is intrinsically linked to the advancement of humanity. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of cementitious systems, concrete formulation for desired qualities remains a difficult undertaking despite conceptual and methodological advancement in the field of concrete science. Recognising the significant pollution caused by the traditional cement industry, construction of civil engineering structures has been carried out successfully using Geopolymer Concrete (GPC), also known as High Performance Concrete (HPC). These are concretes formed by the reaction of inorganic materials with a high content of Silicon and Aluminium (Pozzolans) with alkalis to achieve cementitious properties. These supplementary cementitious materials include Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS), a waste material generated in the steel manufacturing industry; Fly Ash, which is a fine waste product produced by coal-fired power stations and Silica Fume, a by-product of producing silicon metal or ferrosilicon alloys. This result demonstrated that GPC/HPC can be utilised as a substitute for traditional Portland cement-based concrete, resulting in improvements in concrete properties in addition to environmental and economic benefits. This study explores utilising experimental data to train artificial neural networks, which are then used to determine the effect of supplementary cementitious material replacement, namely fly ash, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and silica fume, on the compressive strength, tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity of concrete and to predict these values accordingly.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.71-81
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• 2022

Aluminosilicate materials as precursors are heterogenous in nature, consisting of inert and partially reactive portion, and have varying proportions depending upon source materials. It is essential to assess the reactivity of precursor prior to synthesize geopolymers. Moreover, reactivity may act as decisive factor for setting molar concentration of NaOH, curing temperature and setting proportion of different precursors. In this experimental work, the reactivities of two precursors, low calcium (fly ash (FA)) and high calcium (ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS)), were assessed through the dissolution of aluminosilicate at (i) three molar concentrations (8, 12, and 16 M) of NaOH solution, (ii) 6 to 24 h dissolution time, and (iii) 20-100℃. Based on paratermeters influencing the reactivity, different proportions of ternary binders (two precursors and ordinary cement) were activated by the combined NaOH and Na2SiO3 solutions with two alkaline activators to precursor ratios, to synthesize the geopolymer. Reactivity results revealed that GGBS was 20-30% more reactive than FA at 20℃, at all three molar concentrations, but its reactivity decreased by 32-46% with increasing temperature due to the high calcium content. Setting time of geopolymer paste was reduced by adding GGBS due to its fast reactivity. Both GGBS and cement promoted the formation of all types of gels (i.e., C-S-H, C-A-S-H, and N-A-S-H). As a result, it was found that a specified mixing proportion could be used to improve the compressive strength over 30 MPa at both the ambient and hot curing conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.119-126
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• 2012

Portland cement production-1.5billion tonnes yearly worldwide-contributes substantially to global atmospheric pollution(7% of total of $CO_2$ emissions). Attempts to increase the utilization of fly ash, by-products from thermal power plant to partially replace the cement in concrete are gathering momentum. But most of fly ash is currently dumped in landfills, thus creating a threat to the environment. Many researches on alkali-activated concrete that does not need the presence of cement as a binder have been carried out recently. Instead, the sources of material such as fly ash, that are rich in Silicon(Si) and Aluminium(Al), are activated by alkaline liquids to produce the binder. Hence concrete with no cement is effect reduction of $CO_2$ gas. In this study, we investigated the influence of the compressive strength of mortar on alkaline activator and curing condition in oder to develop cementless fly ash based alkali-activated concrete. In view of the results, we found out that it was possible for us to make alkali-activated mortar with 70MPa at the age of 28days by using alkaline activator manufactured as 1:1 the mass ratio of 9M NaOH and sodium silicate and applying the atmospheric curing after high temperature at $60^{\circ}C$ for 48hours.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.253-263
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• 2015

Ordinary Portland cement is a widely favored construction material because of its good strength and durability and its reasonable price; however, spalling behaviour during fire exposure can be a serious risk that can lead to strength degradation or collapse of a building. Geopolymers, which can be synthesized by mixing aluminosilicate source materials such as metakaolin and fly ash, and alkali activators, are resistant to fire. Because the chemical composition of geopolymers controls the properties of the geopolyers, geopolymers with various Si:Al ratios were synthesized and evaluated as fire resistant construction materials. Rejected fly ash generated from a power plant was quantitatively analyzed and mixed with alkali activators to produce geopolymers having Si:Al ratios of 1.5, 2.0, and 3.5. Compressive strength of the geopolymers was measured at 28 days before and after heating at $900^{\circ}C$. Geopolymers having an Si:Al ratio of 1.5 presented the best fire resistance, with a 44% increase of strength from 29 MPa to 41 MPa after heating. This material also showed the least expansion-shrinkage characteristics. Geopolymer mortar developed no spalling and presented more than a 2 h fire resistance rating at $1,050^{\circ}C$ during the fire testing, with a cold side temperature of $74^{\circ}C$. Geopolymers have high potential as a fire resistant construction material in terms of their increased strength after exposure to fire.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.28-38
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to develop the alkali-activated concrete which uses 100% fly ash as a binder without any cement. The compressive strength of the mortar was examined depending on the chemical change in alkali-activator through SEM and SEM/EDS observations and the XRD analysis. It was found from the test that the higher molar concentration induced the greater effect on the initial strength, and that $Si^{4+}$ and $Al^{3+}$ were eluted relative to the compressive strength of mortar. In addition, it was confirmed that Al and Si were determined to be most influential ingredients on the microstructural development of the mortar, and that the different ingredient of the activator was almost no change in solidity from the XRD analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.211-212
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• 2021

This study was conducted to derive quantitative air void volume calculation techniques in various complexes with porosity. Calculation of voids in a complex is an essential factor in improving mechanical properties, and quantitative measurement techniques are needed because the environment is not constant to apply the currently used ASTM criteria. Using the analysis technique obtained through 2D image analysis, it is believed that meaningful results can be derived through Micro CT analysis results and cross-check later.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.502-508
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• 2011

The goal of the present work was to investigate the development of a geopolymeric ceramic material from a mixture of mine residue, coal fly ash, blast furnace slag, and alkali activator solution by the geopolymer technique. The results showed that the higher compressive strength of geopolymeric ceramic material increased with an increase in active filler (blast furnace slag + coal fly ash) contents and with a reduction of mine residue contents. The geopolymeric ceramic had very high early age strength. The compressive strength of the geopolymeric ceramic depended on the added active filler content. The maximum compressive strength of the geopolymeric ceramic containing 20 wt.% mine residue was 141.2 MPa. The compressive strength of geopolymeric ceramic manufactured by adding mine residue was higher than that of portland cement mortar, which is 60 MPa, when cured for 28 days. SEM observation showed the possibility of having amorphous aluminosilicate gel within geopolymeric ceramic. XRD patterns indicate that the geopolymeric ceramic was composed of amorphous aluminosilicate, calcite, quartz, and muscovite. The Korea Standard Leaching Test (KSLT) was used to determine the leaching potential of the geopolymeric ceramic. The amounts of heavy metals were noticeably reduced after the solidification of mine residue with active filler.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2022

Due to the physical-chemical characteristics of some bottom ash (BA), there are technical, economic and environmental limitations to find a destination that will add value to it. In Brazil, this residue is eventually used for filling coal extraction pits or remains in sedimentation ponds, creating a susceptible panorama to environmental issues. The geopolymers binders are one of the alternatives to the proper use high amounts of these materials. In this work, geopolymeric binder pastes were produced with BA mixed to activators with different alkali contents (expressed as %Na₂O), as well as the incorporation of soluble silicates (Ms content). The production of binary geopolymeric pastes based on the use of two industrial wastes: fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and aluminum anodizing sludge (AAS), was also assessed. The content in mass of BA/FCC and BA/AAS ranged from 100/0, 90/10; 80/20 and 70/30. Systems with soluble silicates as activator in a molar ratio SiO₂/Na₂O of 1.0 (Ms = 1.0) and Na₂O content of 15%, showed the best results of mechanical strength (42 MPa at day 28^th). The improvement is up to 5X when compared to NaOH based systems. For systems with partial replacement of BA of 10% of AAS and 20% of FCC (80/20), the presence of soluble silicates was also effective to increase compressive strength.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2016

This paper presents an investigation into the durability alkali-activated materials(AAM) mortar and paste samples manufactured using fly-ash(FA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag(GGBFS) exposed to a sulfate environment with different GGBFS replace ratios(0, 30, 50 and 100%), sodium silicate modules($Ms[SiO_2/Na_2O]$ 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0) and initial curing temperatures($23^{\circ}C$ and $70^{\circ}C$). The tests involved immersions for a period of 6 months into 10% solutions of sodium sulfate and magnesium sulfate. The evolution of compressive strength, weight, length expansion and microstructural observation such as x-ray diffraction were studied. As a results, as higher GGBFS replace ratio or Ms shown higher compressive strengths on 28 days. In case of immersed in 10% sodium sulfate solution, the samples shows increase in long-term strength. However, for samples immersed in magnesium sulfate solutions, the general observation was that the compressive strength decreased after immersion. The most drastic reduction of compressive strength and expansion of weight and length occurred when GGBFS or Ms ratios were higher. Also, the XRD analysis of samples immersed in magnesium sulfate indicated that expansion of AAM caused by gypsum($CaSO_4{\cdot}2H_2O$); the gypsum increased up to 6 months continuously.