Preparation and Characterization of the Mine Residue-based Geopolymeric Ceramics

Abstract

The goal of the present work was to investigate the development of a geopolymeric ceramic material from a mixture of mine residue, coal fly ash, blast furnace slag, and alkali activator solution by the geopolymer technique. The results showed that the higher compressive strength of geopolymeric ceramic material increased with an increase in active filler (blast furnace slag + coal fly ash) contents and with a reduction of mine residue contents. The geopolymeric ceramic had very high early age strength. The compressive strength of the geopolymeric ceramic depended on the added active filler content. The maximum compressive strength of the geopolymeric ceramic containing 20 wt.% mine residue was 141.2 MPa. The compressive strength of geopolymeric ceramic manufactured by adding mine residue was higher than that of portland cement mortar, which is 60 MPa, when cured for 28 days. SEM observation showed the possibility of having amorphous aluminosilicate gel within geopolymeric ceramic. XRD patterns indicate that the geopolymeric ceramic was composed of amorphous aluminosilicate, calcite, quartz, and muscovite. The Korea Standard Leaching Test (KSLT) was used to determine the leaching potential of the geopolymeric ceramic. The amounts of heavy metals were noticeably reduced after the solidification of mine residue with active filler.