Experimental investigations on geopolymer bricks/paver blocks

Abstract

Objective: This study mainly focused on use of quarry dust on replaced with river sand for making geopolymer bricks and paver blocks. Method: Investigations were done on usage of eco-friendly Geopolymer Concretes in lieu of OPC concrete for producing geopolymer bricks and paver blocks. Fly ash, GGBS, aggregates and pellet form of sodium hydroxide were mixed together, then, distilled water was added to form alkaline condition. After one-day period, sodium silicate solution was mixed with concrete mixtures to prepare geopolymer concrete. The geopolymer concrete specimen were tested against compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength. Findings: GPCC with 50% sand and 50% quarry dust produced excellent compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength. GPC paver block using 75% GGBS and 25% fly ash shows excellent compressive strength. Geopolymer brick using 65% FA & 35% GGBS produced good compressive strength. Applications/Improvements: A high volume fly ash based geopolymer concrete (mix proportion of 65, 70, 75 and 80% FA) used for bricks and high volume ground granulated blast furnace slag based geopolymer concrete (mix proportion of 65, 70, 75 and 80% GGBS) used for pavers blocks.