A novel investigation of co-processing porous geopolymer using glass fibres recycled from waste turbine blades

Abstract

Abstract This work investigates the possibility of using recycled glass fibre (rGF) to co-process porous geopolymer. A new procedure was developed to incorporate rGF into geopolymer preparation and the content of rGF in porous geopolymer was varied to investigate its effect on thermal and mechanical properties. The rGF was co-processed through mixing with a combination of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution to supplement raw materials required to make geopolymer but also provide fibres as potential structure reinforcement. Due to the enriched silica content obtained from rGF and leftover fibres, a nearly 80 % strength increase (from 0.092 MPa to 0.165 MPa) was obtained without compromising its low thermal conductivity. This opens up a potential route to re-using rGF in the development of improved porous geopolymer for thermal insulation applications.