Parametric studies on binary blended mineral admixture based self compacting geopolymer concrete

Abstract

Portland cement is one of the prime materials used in concrete production and every year it fulfills a demand of over 1 5 billion tons worldwide The manufacturing process of cement generates significant volume of carbon dioxide which leads to environmental impacts in terms of atmospheric pollution In order to reduce the cement production the term geopolymer was introduced promoting use of synthesised natural siliceous materials or industrial byproducts These inert materials are activated by alkaline activators such as hydroxides and silicates thereby achieving the binding properties similar to cement Inert materials/ mineral admixtures like Fly ash silica fume GGBS red mud metakaolin etc are the source materials used in geopolymer Among these Class F fly ash or low calcium fly ash is the most commonly used mineral admixture due to its excellent properties in geopolymer synthesis Self compacting Concrete SCC is a special category of concrete used in areas of heavily congested reinforcement and concrete bulk production The ease in flowability and self consolidation property of SCC is achieved by adjusting the rheology of binding phase For the present investigation geopolymer is introduced to self compacting concrete together called as self compacting geopolymer concrete SCGC which exhibits method for sustainable construction practices SCGC is synthesised from low calcium fly ash activated using sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution and by incorporating superplasticiser Excessive amount of superplasticiser was controlled by addition of OPC as additive In order to bring down the curing temperature Low calcium fly ash was replaced with high calcium fly ash in varying percentages newline