Strength Attainment of Geopolymer Concrete with GGBS at Ambient Curing

Abstract

Geopolymer concrete plays a major role in concrete industry by replacing cement and using the industrial wastes. In this study, the cement is completely replaced by GGBS and strength properties are analyzed. An M30 mix design is prepared and the specimens are cast and tested. For this, sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate are used as activator and its ratio is fixed as 1:2.5. Sodium hydroxide of 12 molarity, 550kg/m3 of GGBS is used in the study. Admixture La Hypercrete S25 (HTS code 38244090) is added in the mix by 1% of weight of GGBS to obtain the required workability. For compression study, cubes in 100 mm size are cast. Cylinders with 100mm dia and 200mm height are tested for splitting tensile strength and beam specimens of 500mm long and 100mm cross sections were cast for determining the flexure behaviour. The beams are subjected to ambient curing and tested at 3, 7, 14, 28 and 56 days. The test result shows that there is a gradual increment in all the strengths from 3 to 56 days and it proves that geopolymer concrete with GGBS cured at ambient temperature performs well in the strength properties.