AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON GEO-POLYMER CONCRETE INCORPORATING GGBS (GROUND GRANULATED BLAST FURNANCE SLAG) AND METAKAOLIN

Abstract

The major problem the world is facing today is the environmental pollution. In the construction industry mainly the production of Portland cement will causes the emission of pollutants results in environmental pollution. We can reduce the pollution effect on environment, by increasing the usage of industrial by-products in our construction industry. Geo- polymer concrete is such a one and in the present study, to produce the geo-polymer concrete the Portland cement is fully replaced with GGBS (Ground granulated blast furnace slag) and Metakaolin and alkaline liquids are used for the binding of materials. The alkaline liquids used in this study for the polymerization are the solutions of Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na2Sio3) of A53 which consists of SiO2 = 29.4%, Na2O = 14.7%, and water = 55.9% by mass is used. 10Molar Sodium hydroxide is taken for the preparation of different mixes by varying the percentages of GGBS (Ground granulated blast furnace slag) and Metakaolin. The cube specimens are taken of size 150mm x 150mm x 150mm for compression test. The curing was done directly by placing the specimens to direct sunlight. The geo- polymer concrete specimens are tested for their compressive strength at the age of 3, 7 and 28days and compared with conventional concrete. For this study M30 concrete mix was used for experimental work. The result shows that there is an increase in the strength of Geopolymer concrete up to 40%GGBS content and then it is decreasing. Therefore it is preferable to use 40%GGBS with Metakaolin to get high strength. Metakaolin and GGBS can be used as a replacement material for cement gives an excellent result in strength aspect and quality aspect since it is better than the control concrete. Key Words: Geopolymer concrete, GGBS, Metakaolin, Alkaline solutions, curing, compressive strength.