The effects of aggressive environments on the properties of fly ash based geopolymers

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effects of two different aggressive environments, concentrated ammonium nitrate solution (480 g/dm3) and sodium sulphate solution (50 g/dm3), on the structure and mechanical strength of fly ash based geopolymers. Geopolymer samples were subjected to the aggressive solutions over a period of 365 days. It was found that exposure to the NH4NO3 and Na2SO4 solutions caused small decrease in geopolymer strength (10-20%). The most valuable insight into the structural changes caused by testing of the geopolymer samples in the aggressive solutions was provided by means of 29Si MAS NMR. It was found that the immersion of geopolymer samples in the NH4NO3 solution caused breaking of Si-O-Al bonds in the aluminosilicate geopolymer gel structure. On the other hand, treatment of the geopolymer samples with the Na2SO4 solution resulted in breaking of Si-O-Si bonds in geopolymer gel structure and leaching of Si. It was concluded that the major changes in the geopolymer structure were associated with the changes in the pH values of aggressive solutions during the testing.