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High temperature resistance of fly ash/GGBFS-based geopolymer mortar with load-induced damage

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Abstract

This study investigated the effect of elevated temperatures on the residual mechanical behaviors of geopolymer mortars with initial damage induced by mechanical load. Geopolymer mortar was prepared using different fly ash/ ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) ratios and was activated by sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide solution. The physical properties and residual mechanical strength were investigated and compared with those of Portland cement mortar (PCM). After elevated temperature exposure, microstructure of GSM was studied by various microcharacterizations. The results show that before the exposure to high temperature, the addition of GGBFS increased the compressive strength of GSM, but made it more sensitive to the preloading damage, leading to the increased strength loss. After exposed to combined preloading damage and high temperature exposure, the GSM exhibited lower residual strength than the ones only suffered from preloading damage or high temperature exposure. Compared to the PCM, GSM with GGBFS performed better at temperature of 300 °C, but became worse at temperatures of 500 and 700 °C due to severe damage caused by combined high load level and large heat exposure. Finally, a low percentage of GGBFS (less than 20%) can be considered as an optimal amount for the GSM to achieve excellent fire resistance capacity.

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Acknowledgements

All the authors appreciate the Australian Research Council (ARC) (DE150101751 and IH150100006), University of Technology Sydney Research Academic Program at Tech Lab (UTS RAPT), and University of Technology Sydney Tech Lab Blue Sky Research Scheme. The first author also thanks the China Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Fulin Qu, Wengui Li & Arnaud Castel

  2. Centre for Infrastructure Engineering, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Zhong Tao

  3. Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Kejin Wang

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  1. Fulin Qu
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  2. Wengui Li
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Correspondence to Wengui Li.

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Qu, F., Li, W., Tao, Z. et al. High temperature resistance of fly ash/GGBFS-based geopolymer mortar with load-induced damage. Mater Struct 53, 111 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-020-01544-2

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