Strength characteristics of granulated ground blast furnace slag-based geopolymer concrete

Abstract

In recent years, geopolymer cements, have gained significant attention as an environmental-friendly type of cement. In this experimental research, effects of different alkaline activator solutions and variations of associated parameters, including time of addition, concentration, and weight ratio, on the mechanical strengths of Granulated Ground Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS)-based Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) were investigated. Investigation of the effects of simultaneous usage of KOH and NaOH solutions on the tensile and flexural strengths of GGBFS-based GPC, and the influence of NaOH solution addition time delay on the mechanical strengths is among the novel aspects investigated in this research. four series of mix designs and corresponding specimen testing is conducted to study different parameters of the active alkali solutions on GPC mechanical strengths. The results showed that addition of NaOH to the mix after 3 min of mixing KOH and Na2SiO3 with dry components (1/3 of the total mixing duration) resulted in the highest compressive, tensile and flexural strengths amongst other cases. Moreover, increasing the KOH concentration up to 12 M resulted in the highest compressive strength, while weight ratio of 1.5 for Na2SiO3/KOH was the optimum value to achieve highest compressive strengths.