Mechanical Strength Characteristics of Ternary Blend Geopolymer Concrete with Steel Fibres under Ambient Curing

Abstract

As the concrete industry continues to expand, the changes and design of infrastructure is given due insight owing to the current trend. The demand for special concrete is thereby increased. In this present experimental work, production of concrete aims at achieving a strength of 50 N / mm2. Here, cement is replaced by fly ash, GGBS and metakaolin at the nominal proportions integrated with steel fibers in percentages of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 by volume of concrete. Steel fibers used are crimped in shape of aspect ratio 66. Concrete being soft in tension and strong in compression is designed to combat the pressure generated. This will render concrete where tension is resisted by steel fibers. Mix proportion for ternary blend geo polymer used in this study consists of 25% fly ash, 60% GGBS and 15% metakaolin. GGBS and low calcium-based fly ash supplied by the local thermal plant are utilised. At 1.5% of the integration of steel fibers, the highest increase in strength was reported. The introduction of steel fibers showed a good improvement in flexural, compressive and split tensile strength. Out of the three mixes, the one with 1.5% steel fibres, which was the maximum percentage added, showed the best result. Split tensile strength was found to improve by 9% and flexural strength by 73%, which is a commendable result. On the contrary, the Modulus of elasticity showed a decline in its value. A reduction of 13.2% was observed for steel fibre content of 1.5%. It can therefore be concluded that geo polymer concrete with steel fibres has improved ductile properties, besides which, it help in reducing the carbon footprint due to emission of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide produced by the cement industry.