Performance studies on Geo polymer concrete

Abstract

Geo polymer concrete, an eco-friendly concrete produced without addition of cement. Though cement is a basic material in the production of concrete; however in global carbon dioxide emission 5 to 8% contribution is from the production of concrete. In geo polymer concrete the absence of cement is replaced by an inorganic alumina silicate compound synthesized using fly ash as a binder. Fly ash involves in reduction of high energy consumption and offers solutions for utilizing waste by products from industries. This paper describes the experimental investigation on fly ash based Geo polymer concrete to evaluate the effects of workability, compressive and split tensile strength in order to ensure the overall performance of the concrete mix. The various parameters has been analysed based on the ratio of liquid to binder, molarity of sodium hydroxide solution, ratio of sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide and alkaline to fly ash ratio. The test results indicate that the compressive strength gradually increases with increase in molarity of NaOH solutions for two different alkaline to fly ash ratios of 0.35 and 0.5 respectively. The split tensile strength of geo polymer concrete is very low and not increases significantly. The workability of mix improves by adding 2% superplasticizer. Further overall performance is greatly influenced by the molarity of NaOH solution and the ratio of alkaline to fly ash to evaluate the early age strength of concrete.