Comparison of Mechanical and Durability Properties of Fiber Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete with Control Concrete

Abstract

Concrete is most widely used material on earth after the water. Ordinary Portland Ce- ment (OPC) concrete is the most useful and popular material for construction of the building because of their ease availability of the raw material for construction. More than 1.5 tons of raw material is needed in the production of every ton of the OPC production, at the same time the amount of carbon dioxide released during the manufacturing the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is more than 1 ton. The fossil fuel which are used to produce the OPC is very high. Fly Ash produced all over the world is about 10 million tones but the utilization of y ash is not more than 10% of the total production of the

y ash. The other y ash is dumped under the ground which causes the environmental pollution and health hazard for human beings. Reduction of the cement content in the concrete will pose difficulty in achieving the desired strength. So, to overcome such prob- lem requires such material which can replace cement without any loss in strength. One of the alternatives to produce more environmental friendly concrete is to replace the amount of Portland cement in concrete by y ash. An alternative material to make environmental friendly concrete is the development of inorganic alumina- silicate polymer called geopolymer, synthesized from materials of geological origin and by-product material of coal such as y ash is rich in silicon and alu- minium. By using the y ash based geopolymer concrete reducing the two environmental related issues i.e. the high amount of carbon dioxide released to the environment during the production of the OPC and utilization of the y ash. Experiment works includes the casting of M25 and M40 grade of geopolymer concrete reinforced with the polypropylene fibers comparison of mechanical and durability proper- ties of the geopolymer concrete with control concrete which has same dosage of fibers as in geopolymer concrete and geopolymer concrete without fibers is carried out. Class F y ash is used as the source material for geopolymer concrete. Sodium Hydroxide(NaOH)and Sodium Silicate (Na2SiO3) as a alkaline liquids are used in the geopolymer concrete as a binder materials. Geopolymer concrete has been heat cured for 24 hrs at 60C. Mechan- ical properties includes the compressive strength, exure strength, bond strength, split tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, abrasion resistance test and impact test. Durabil- ity properties includes the acid attack test and accelerated carbonation test. The results were taken at 3 days, 7 days and 28 days for mechanical properties and 30 days, 60 days and 90 days for durability properties. Results of mechanical and durability properties of Fiber Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete (FRGC), Fiber Reinforced Control Concrete (FRCC) and Control Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) without fibers are taken at various ages and results are compared.