Abstract
Geopolymer has been emerged as an innovative and eco-friendly alternative to traditional soil improvement products such as Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and lime, which have negative environmental consequences. Geopolymer has been employed in various geotechnical applications as alternative lightweight backfill in highway barriers and/or behind retaining walls, providing technical, environmental, and economic benefits. The present study aims to evaluate the mechanical, durability, and Microstructure properties of clayey soil (with different percentages of sand) stabilized using coal-fired fly and a sodium hydroxide/sodium silicate solution alkali activator. Stabilized soils exhibited high strength of 1–8 MPa compared with less than 0.3 MPa for untreated soils. Moreover, adding sand to clay soil reduced the optimum ratio of alkaline activator from 0.8 for clayey soil with 5% sand to 0.6 for clayey soil with 10, 20, 30% sand. The geopolymer treated samples also showed high resistance to the acidic environments and chlorides. Finally, SEM results revealed a clay fabric modification caused by inter-particle contacts and the resulting bonding caused by gel formation and hardening. According to the outcomes of this study, it can be concluded that using a fly ash geopolymer binder for soil stabilization is a viable alternative to cement in geotechnical applications.
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