Recent development in geopolymer concrete: A review

Abstract

As a developing country, India is growing in all sectors, which leads to an extensive use of cement concrete. India stands second in production of cement globally; India’s overall cement production is increasing annually. The cement industry releases CO2 into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. Hence, it is necessary to resolve this problem by finding an alternative to cement concrete. Geopolymer concrete is proving to be a good alternative to replace ordinary cement concrete as it has high strength, lesser shrinkage, resistance against reinforcement corrosion, acid and sulfate resistance, freeze–thaw resistance, fire resistance and resistance to alkali-aggregate reaction. Geopolymer concrete emits less CO2 than Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).Geopolymer concrete utilizes industrial waste materials in an effective way and ultimately aim to reduce the dumping problem of waste materials. Geopolymers are cementitious materials which can replace OPC entirely. This review article focuses on the use of different supplementary cementitious materials like Ground Granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), fly ash, metakaolin, rice husk ash, silica fume, calcined clay for development of Geopolymer concrete and their effect on physical and mechanical properties. It is found that Geopolymer concrete with combination of different supplementary cementitious materials gives similar or superior fresh and mechanical properties than conventional cement concrete.