Compressive strength of GGBFS based GPC under thermal curing

Abstract

The exposure of alumino silicate materials such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag will undergo thermal activation along with alkaline environment and forms an environment friendly material called geopolymer. These materials not only reduce emission of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere but also act as a substitute for cement to meet with the future demand. In the present work a sincere attempt was made to produce ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) based geopolymer concrete (GPC) and to assess its performance by conducting parametric study such as magnitude of temperature, Alkaline liquid (AL) to GGBFS ratio, SiO3 to OH ratio and age of concrete on compressive strength. All the experiments were conducted with a constant sodium hydroxide (NaOH) molarity of 14. Detailed experimental investigations were carried out to assess the effect of the above mentioned parameters under thermal curing with three different curing temperatures of 60, 80 and 100°C. From the experimental results it was understood that geopolymer concrete with AL/GGBFS=0.30, SiO3/OH=1.5 and curing temperature of 80°C, yielded better compressive strength when compared to all the other combinations used in the present work. Hence use of GGBFS based geopolymer concrete could be feasible for any engineering construction and most preferred for precast construction.