Mechanical Properties of High Calcium Flyash Geopolymer Concrete
Mechanical Properties of High Calcium Flyash Geopolymer Concrete
Mechanical Properties of High Calcium Flyash Geopolymer Concrete
Abstract: The present study deals with the mechanical properties of High Calcium Fly Ash Geopolymer
Concrete (HCFA GPC). A preliminary study was made on high calcium fly ash geopolymer mortar by varying
sodium based alkaline activator to binder ratio to find an ideal composition. Alkaline activators were the mixture
of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na 2SiO3. Based on the compressive strength of high calcium
fly ash geopolymer mortar, the optimum mix combination was arrived for the further study on concrete. Upon
the optimum mix combination, mechanical properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength and
modulus of elasticity were further determined. Test results depict that strength properties of HCFA GPC were
marginally higher under steam curing than ambient curing.
Keywords: Geopolymer, High Calcium fly ash, Alkaline activator, Steam Curing, Strength Properties
proposed on HCFA geopolymer mortar by varying curing the casted specimens were demoulded on the
sodium alkaline activator to binder ratio to find the next day and kept in room temperature until the day of
ideal composition for the study in concrete. testing. In case of steam curing the casted specimens
Accordingly, the mechanical properties include were kept in steam curing chamber at 60ºC for 24
compressive strength, split tensile strength and hours to activate the geopolymerisation of
modulus of elasticity to substantiate the development geopolymer specimens were demoulded and kept in
of HCFA geopolymer concrete. room temperature until the day of testing.
2. Experimental Details 2.3 Experimental Work
2.1 Materials 2.3.1 Compressive strength of HCFA Geopolymer
Mortar
Fly ash used in this work was collected from Neyveli
Lignite Corporation in Cuddalore district of Mortar cube of size 70.6 mm x 70.6 mm x 70.6 mm
Tamilnadu. The chemical composition of high were casted. Compressive strength of HCFA
calcium fly ash is shown in Table 1. The CaO content geopolymer mortar was measured using 200 tons
of fly ash used reveals that it is categorized as high capacity compressive testing machine at the age of 3,
calcium fly ash. Alkaline solution comprises of 7, 28, 56 and 91 days. In case of HCFA geopolymer
sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide. Coarse mortar specimens were cured under steam at 60°C for
aggregate of size 12 mm and 6 mm and fine aggregate one day and kept in room temperature up to the date
were used. The physical properties of fine and coarse of testing. The specimens curing in steam curing
aggregate are shown in Table 2. chamber is presented in fig 1.
Table 1 Chemical Composition of High Calcium Fly
Ash
S.NO Chemical composition Observed
1. Silica (SiO2) 63.11%
2. Calcium Oxide (CaO) 17.13%
3. Magnesium Oxide (MgO) 0.24%
4. Iron Oxide (Fe2O3) 5.03%
5. Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) 19.58%
6. Sodium Oxide (Na2O) 0.29%
7. Potassium Oxide (K2O) 0.84%
8. Loss of Ignition (LOI) 1.55 %
Table 2 Physical Properties of fine and coarse
Fig.1 Specimens in steam curing chamber
aggregate
2.3.2 Strength properties of HCFA geopolymer
Coarse
Description Fine aggregate concrete
aggregate
Specific gravity 2.55 2.70 On arriving, the ideal mix composition of HCFA
Bulk density 1791.1kg/m3 1689.32 kg/m3 geopolymer from compressive strength of mortar,
Fineness modules 2.6 6.50 strength properties was evaluated. Cubes of size 100
mm for compressive strength and cylinder of size 150
2.2 Mix Design of HCFA Geopolymer Mortar mm dia x 300 mm height for split tensile strength
Primarily HCFA geopolymer mortar was studied for were used. Strength of HCFA geopolymer was
finding the optimum composition of the mix. Trial determined under both ambient and steam curing. Fig
mixes were made by considering the various factors. 2 & 3 shows the testing of compression and split
The ratio of fly ash to sand ratio was 1:3. The tensile strength testing of the concrete specimens.
concentration of NaOH was kept as 10M. Alkaline
liquid to binder ratio was considered as 0.35, 0.40,
0.45 and 0.5. The sodium silicate to NaOH ratio by
mass was 2.5. The mixing was done at room
temperature. The mixing procedure started with
mixing of NaOH solution and sodium silicate
solution. This was followed by the addition of fly ash
for 5 min in a pan mixer. Sand was then added and
mixed for 5 min.
2.2.1 Curing of HCFA Geopolymer Mortar
Two types of curing were attempted for the mixes.
Ambient and steam curing were selected. In ambient Fig.2 Compression test
specimens cured at steam curing provided better 2) Steam cured HCFA geopolymer concrete
results than specimens cured at ambient curing. The specimens achieved 16% higher compressive
steam curing specimens was attained 3.34N/mm2 strength than ambient cured specimens.
which was 18% of higher strength than the ambient 3) Split tensile strength of steam cured HCFA
curing specimens at the age of 28 days. Fig. 7 geopolymer concrete had 18% higher value than
represents the split tensile strength of HCFA GPC. the ambient cured specimens.
4) Modulus of elasticity HCFA geopolymer
concrete showcased only small variations among
steam cured and ambient cured condition
5) Hence, it is concluded that the steam curing is
better than ambient curing for HCFA GPC.
5. Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge KSR College of
Engineering, Trichengode, Tamilnadu for the facility
and support extended for the research work.
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