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Improvement in Fresh, Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Fly Ash- Blast Furnace Slag Based Geopolymer Concrete By Addition of Nano and Micro Silica

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Abstract

In this study, the effect of nano-silica (NS) and silica fume (SF) on workability, setting time, compressive strength and microstructural properties of fly ash-ground granulated blast furnace slag (FA-GGBFS) based geopolymer concrete (GPC) is investigated. Five mixtures of each containing 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% NS and SF are prepared for this investigation. The optimum GPC mixture with NS resulted in compressive strength of 63 MPa and the SF modified GPC achieved a compressive strength of 59.59 MPa after 28 days of outdoor temperature curing (Avg. temp. 31.4℃). The hardened concrete samples are analyzed through X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and petrographic examination, for the better understanding of geopolymer mineralogy, mechanism and microstructure. Results indicate that both NS and SF facilitated a higher degree of geopolymerization, leading to the densification of the geopolymer matrix which led to the improvement of the properties of FA-GGBFS based GPC.

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Acknowledgements

The authors duly acknowledge the contributions of all project staffs of CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar, India in carrying out the experiments. The support of Green Tech Concrete and Research, Bhubaneswar, India regarding this research is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR- Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Syed Mohammed Mustakim & Shaswat Kumar Das

  2. Green Tech Concrete and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Shaswat Kumar Das

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, GCE, Keonjhar, Odisha, India

    Shaswat Kumar Das

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla, Sambalpur, Odisha, India

    Jyotirmoy Mishra

  5. Department of Civil Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkatta, India

    Asif Aftab

  6. Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 21955, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

    Thamer Salman Alomayri

  7. Department of Physics, University College in AlJumum, Umm Al-Qura University, P.O. Box 21955, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

    Hasan Suliman Assaedi

  8. Laboratory of Applied Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Cyriaque Rodrigue Kaze

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  1. Syed Mohammed Mustakim
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Mustakim, S.M., Das, S.K., Mishra, J. et al. Improvement in Fresh, Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Fly Ash- Blast Furnace Slag Based Geopolymer Concrete By Addition of Nano and Micro Silica. Silicon 13, 2415–2428 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00593-0

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