The growing demand for environmentally friendly construction has
been the driving force behind the production of sustainable and cost-effective
construction materials. Portland cement (PC), which is not considered an
environmentally friendly material, is an important ingredient in concrete. In contrast
to Portland cement, geopolymers are gaining increased interest as low -CO2 emission
binders.
This research consists of two basic stages, the first stage investigates the effects of
many parameters on the properties of geopolymer concrete based on fly ash, in
particular the compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength .The
parameters included were fly ash content, degree of solution molarity, alkaline liquid
ratio to fly ash content, curing conditions, fine aggregate to coarse aggregate ratio.
Second stage of the research concerned with the durability of geo-polymer
concrete developed using fly ash class-F. As a guide for assessing the durability of
geo-polymer concrete, the efficiency of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete is
also discussed. The influence of salt solutions of different concentrations through
various periods of wetting – drying cycles on the weight loss, water absorption, and
geo-polymer concrete has been investigated for its compressive strength.
According to the first stage results, the best parameters which gave the highest
geo-polymer concrete's mechanical properties, were: fly ash content of 400 kg/m3, 16
M degree of molarity, curing time of 3 days in oven, the ratio of alkaline liquid to the
content of fly ash equals 0.5 and ratio of fine aggregate to coarse aggregate equals to
1:2, where the compressive strength reached its highest value (387 Kg/cm2).
The results of second stage revealed that geopolymer concrete is less affected than
cement concrete with respect to compressive strength and more affected in weight
loss and water absorption. Geopolymer concrete showed an i ncrease in water
absorption compared to OPC concrete, after 9 weeks of wetting – drying cycles in salt
solutions, by about 176% &184% for 5% & 10% solutions concentration,
respectively. Also, more weight loss for geopolymer concrete specimens was revealed
compared to OPC concrete by about 33% & 30% for 5% & 10% solutions
concentration, respectively.