Development of Metakaolin as a Pozzolanic Material from Local Natural Material, Soorh

Abstract

This research aims to investigate and present the effect of extent of temperature and duration of heating on the pozzolanic properties and reactivity of the local available natural material, Soorh. The Soorh is activated by heating in a furnace chamber at temperatures 650, 700, 750 and \({800~^{\circ} {\rm C}}\) for 2, 3 and 6 h and at 900 and \({1000~^{\circ} {\rm C}}\) for 2-h duration. The energy- dispersive spectrometry and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are conducted to verify the presence of silica content and amorphous silica in developed metakaolin. The strength activity index (SAI) of developed metakaolin is determined with 20 % replacement of cement with metakaolin as per ASTM. The obtained results of SAI verdict that the optimal activation temperature is \({800~^{\circ} {\rm C}}\) with 2-h duration. The XRD analysis confirmed pozzolanic activity of developed metakaolin and validated the results of SAI. Moreover, it is observed that the activated metakaolin has an appreciable influence on the increase in compressive strength of the mortars.