COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CEMENT CONCRETE AND GEOPOLYMER MASONRY BLOCKS

Abstract

It is well known that the production of cement is extremely resource and energy intensive process producing an equal amount of CO 2 per ton of cement. Hence, due to growing environmental concerns of the cement industry, there is a need to develop alternative materials such as fly ash, Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). Also there is a need to develop masonry units using these alternative materials for sustainability. Geopolymer technology makes use of fly ash which is a byproduct of thermal power plants. In the present research, cement and geopolymer blocks are produced by the same method. The basic properties of these masonry units such as compressive strength, density, modulus of elasticity, Initial rate of absorption (IRA) and water absorption are determined and compared. The results indicate that Geopolymer blocks posses superior properties compared to traditional cement blocks. Geopolymer blocks can be recommended for the use as masonry units for structural masonry. Thus the use of conventional cement can be eliminated.