A Study of Alkali-Activated Coatings Durability Assessment in Different Environments

Abstract

Geopolymer concrete is an environment-friendly concrete that uses waste by-products from industries such as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and fly ash as a substitution for cement in concrete. The African Buffalo Optimization (ABO) algorithm is utilized to select the proper mix. From the results of ABO, the paste and mortar type coating is prepared; the prepared mortar and paste type coating’s compressive strength and setting time are measured. According to the outcomes, the alkali-activated material coatings based on fly ash and natural pozzolan (volcanic ash) with 1% and 5% acrylic emulsion P-2 and X-2 were selected and the M-2 mix is selected for paste-type coating. After the measurements, the concrete surface is coated with prepared mix coatings. The properties of geopolymer concrete with coatings such as compressive strength, adhesion strength, drying shrinkage, shear bond strength, chloride permeability, and capillary absorption of water were determined. From the results, the selected mix based on ABO gives higher strength and the durability was also high. It provides better strength, reduced shrinkage, water absorption, and chloride ion penetration than other techniques based on various polymeric additive coatings.