Development of Sustainable Eco-friendly Geopolymer Composites for Construction Applications

Abstract

Geopolymerization is a process where silica and alumina rich source materials turns into excellent binding materials by the aid of alkali solutions. Materials such as fly ash are by-products in energy power plants. Fly ash is classified based on its constituent materials. Fly ash class F mainly consists of alumina and silica. Compressive strength of class F fly ash geopolymer mortar is influenced by many factors such as the molarity of sodium hydroxide solution, fluid to binder ratio, Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio, curing duration and curing temperatures. The present study investigates the effect of these factors on the compressive strength of geopolymer mortar. For each combination, three cubes with dimensions of 50 x 50 x 50 mm were casted. After heat curing in the laboratory oven, the samples were tested on a universal testing machine for the compressive strength. The results showed very high early compressive strength of 63.9 MPa for samples cured at 80 °C and for a duration of 24 hr.