Effects of Ultrafine Fly Ash on Setting, Strength, and Porosity of Geopolymers Cured at Room Temperature
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper presents the effects of ultrafine fly ash on setting, strength and porosity of geopolymer paste specimens cured at 20°C. Addition of ultrafine fly ash reduced setting time and improved compressive strength of geopolymers based on fly ash only or fly ash blended with 15% ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) or 10% ordinary portland cement (OPC). With the addition of ultrafine fly ash, a reduction in porosity was observed by the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and a denser microstructure was observed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs. Thus, for room temperature curing conditions, a control on the setting time and improvements of strength and porosity of geopolymers could be achieved by varying the percentage of ultrafine fly ash.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge Coogee Chemicals and the Electron Microscope Facility of Curtin University for their support of this study.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 2 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 4, 2015
Accepted: Jul 8, 2016
Published online: Sep 14, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 14, 2017
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