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Utilization of chitosan biopolymer to enhance fly ash-based geopolymer

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Abstract

This paper investigates the enhancement of fly ash-based geopolymer with chitosan biopolymer. Unconfined compression and split tensile tests were carried out to investigate the effect of addition of small amount of N-carboxymethyl chitosan (0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 wt% of fly ash) on the mechanical performance of fly ash-based geopolymer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging was also conducted to study the microstructure of the chitosan enhanced fly ash-based geopolymer. The results indicated that the inclusion of N-carboxymethyl chitosan led to slight increase of the unconfined compressive strength and substantial increase of the tensile strength, the displacement at the peak tensile load and the pre-peak toughness, with the maximum increases at 0.1 wt% chitosan content. The SEM imaging indicated that the added N-carboxymethyl chitosan biopolymer coated and bridged the (geopolymerized) fly ash particles and led to the formation of a more condensed geopolymer network structure, thus enhancing the mechanical behavior of the geopolymer–biopolymer composite. However, when too much N-carboxymethyl chitosan was used, the excessive coating and encapsulation of un-reacted and partially hydrolyzed fly ash particles hindered their geopolymerization and adversely affected the mechanical behavior of the geopolymer–biopolymer composite.

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Acknowledgements

This work is partially supported by the University of Arizona Faculty Seed Grants Program. We gratefully acknowledge the Salt River Materials Group (SRMG) for providing the fly ash used in this investigation. We would also like to thank the W.M. Keck Center for Surface and Interface Imaging at University of Arizona to provide the SEM instrumentation.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Zhe Li, Rui Chen & Lianyang Zhang

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  1. Zhe Li
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  2. Rui Chen
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  3. Lianyang Zhang
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Correspondence to Lianyang Zhang.

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Li, Z., Chen, R. & Zhang, L. Utilization of chitosan biopolymer to enhance fly ash-based geopolymer. J Mater Sci 48, 7986–7993 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7610-4

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