Mechanical and microstructural properties of copper slag based blended geopolymer concrete

Abstract

This work presents a novel way to examine the characteristics of fly ash, copper slag (CPS) along with the addition of Ultrafine Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (UFGGBFS) based Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) for various molarities (10M, 12M and 14M). In GPC, fly ash was replaced with UFGGBFS (5 %, 10 % and 15 %) and copper slag was used as fine aggregate. Mechanical Characterization such as split tensile, flexural strength, workability and water absorption were conducted . GPC characterization and microstructural behaviour was studied by examining X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). From experimental results this study concludes that with a rise in molarity of GPC, along with incorporation of UFGGBFS, improved the performance, densification and strength of GPC.