Production of lightweight geopolymer concrete

Abstract

Lightweight concrete has been known all around the world for decades. As a masonry material, there is an advantage: it has sufficient mechanical strength despite of its light weight. This research focuses on the production of recycled concrete based lightweight geopolymer concrete samples using glass foam aggregates. During the research geopolymer and concrete samples were made and finally their properties were investigated and compared. In the research work an alkaline silicate reaction (ASR) was also studied on the glass foam lightweight aggregates, which is very important for concrete failure. Material structural and morphological tests were obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize the geopolymer concrete samples. Compressive strength of lightweight concrete and lightweight geopolymer was determined at the age of 7 days. Glass foam is suitable for use as a lightweight aggregates for workability. Based on the 7 days compressive strength results no crust typical of the ASR reaction was detected on the surface of the mixtures.