Study of the Properties of Nano Engineered Geopolymeric Concretes

Abstract

The reliability of the geopolymer concrete is an issue draws marginal attention, with regard to cement based concrete. The usage of the alkali-activated concrete can be considered as environmental friendly option compared with concreting. Geopolymers are gaining interest worldwide compared to the Ordinary Portland Cement OPC as a construction material, due to very low CO2 emission in addition to the usage of the by-product materials as the raw source of the binder. This research consists of two phases. Phase I; aimed to study the influence of using Nano-materials on the compressive strength of twelve geopolymer mixes, composed of 50 % slag + 50 % fly ash with a variable Nano-clay NC and Carbon Nano-tubes CNTs contents. The applied percentages -as a replacement by weight of the total binder (slag and fly ash) - were (0, 2.5, 5and 7.5%) for NC and (0, 0.01 and 0.02%) for CNTs. Based on phase I investigational work, the superior compressive strength geopolymer mix was observed to study throughout the second phase, namely (2.5%N.C, 0.01%CNTs).