Characterization of Sidoarjo mud as base material in geopolymer

Abstract

Sidoarjo mudflow (SM) is an alternative source material in the construction which is generated from natural disasters of volcano mudflow in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. This source material is classified as replacement cementing material (RCM) due to rich of Si, Fe and Al content. In addition, high Si and Al contents in SM material are considered to be able to replace FA as a base material in geopolymer binder. However, the calcination temperature is required to reduce volatile and impurities in SM material. The source material after calcination process is termed as volcanic meta ash (VMA). This study aims to investigate the feasibility of VMA material as an alternative source material in geopolymer binder. The results mention that Si and Al contents of VMA material are 1.5 and 1.3 times higher than fly ash (FA) material. The crystalline of quartz and mullite and chemical bonding of Si-O-Si and Si-O-Al in VMA material is more than FA material. VMA material has the particle of irregular agglomerate shape and rough surface.