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Influence of Thermal Activation and Silica Modulus on the Properties of Clayey-Lateritic Based Geopolymer Binders Cured at Room Temperature

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Abstract

In this study, a laterite soil which is a locally available material in many parts of the world was used as the aluminosilicate precursor. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of calcination temperature on physicochemical properties of the resulting geopolymers synthesized from calcined laterite soils. In order to produce the geopolymer binders, the laterite soil was activated thermally through calcination (from 550 to 750 °C) and the resulting calcined laterite was activated with an alkali activator composed of 8 and 10 M of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) in mass of 0.5. Then, the calcined laterite soils and synthesized geopolymer products were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunner-Emmet-Teller (BET), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), thermogravimetry (TG), scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results from this study indicate that increasing the calcination temperature from 550 to 750 °C resulted in the transformation of phases and an increase in the reactivity of the laterites, resulting in material with improved properties. The use of laterite calcined at 750 °C and activated with 8 M NaOH solution resulted to an increase in the 28 days compressive strength by 35.3 MPa when compared to laterite calcined at 550 °C. Increasing the concentration of the NaOH solution was also found to yield higher material performance. Microstructural investigations showed a heterogeneous compact and dense structure resulting from high polycondensation much pronounced with the rise of calcination temperature from 550 to 750 °C.

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Acknowledgments

This project received the contribution of the FLAIR fellowship African Academic of Science and the Royal Society through the funding N° FLR/R1/201402. The authors are also grateful to Ingessil S.r.l., Verona, Italy, for providing the sodium silicate used.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratry of Materials, Local Material Promotion Authority, MINRESI/MIPROMALO, PoBox 2396, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Jordan Valdès Sontia Metekong, Cyriaque Rodrigue Kaze, Juvenal Giogetti Deutou Nemaleu, Jean Noel Yankwa Djobo & Elie Kamseu

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, National Advanced School of Engineering, University of Yaoundé I, PoBox 510, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Jordan Valdès Sontia Metekong & Thomas Tamo Tatietse

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

    Cyriaque Rodrigue Kaze & Uphie Chinje Melo

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    Adeyemi Adesina

  5. School of Chemical Engineering and Mineral Industries, University of Ngaounderé, Ngaounderé, Cameroon

    Patrick Ninla Lemougna

  6. Department of Physics, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

    Thamer Alomayri

Authors
  1. Jordan Valdès Sontia Metekong
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Contributions

Jordan Valdès Sontia Metekong: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation Writing - original draft & Project administration. Rodrigue Cyriaque Kaze: Validation, Visualization, Methodology, Writing - review & editing. Adeyemi Adesina: Validation, Writing - review & editing. Juvenal Giogetti Deutou Nemaleu: Methodology, Writing-review & editing. Jean Noel Yankwa Djobo: Writing – review & editing. Patrick Ninla Lemougna: Writing – review & editing. Thamer Alomayri: Writing – review & editing. Elie Kamseu: Conceptualization, Supervision & Resources. Uphie Chinje Melo: Conceptualization & Supervision. Thomas Tamo Tatietse: Conceptualization & Supervision.

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Correspondence to Jordan Valdès Sontia Metekong or Cyriaque Rodrigue Kaze.

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Metekong, J.V.S., Kaze, C.R., Adesina, A. et al. Influence of Thermal Activation and Silica Modulus on the Properties of Clayey-Lateritic Based Geopolymer Binders Cured at Room Temperature. Silicon 14, 7399–7416 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01566-7

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