Geopolymer Concrete: A Building Material for the Future

Abstract

The consumption of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as construction material is one of the main sources of CO2 emission and global warming.. The manufacturing process of ‘clinker’ which is an essential element of cement requires burning of fossil fuels, thus increasing the CO2 emission and decreasing the global stock of fuels. Concept of a novel binding material named ‘Geopolymer’ appeared in the 1940s as a viable solution to these issues. Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is produced from industrial byproducts such as Fly Ash (FA) rich in aluminosilicate, Blast furnace slag (BFS) or natural minerals such as Kaolinite clay using alkalis as activators. In this paper, economical, social and ecological sustainability of GPC have been put forth. Comparison have been made between the behavior of low-calcium fly ash based GPC and metakaolin based GPC under different environmental conditions using alkali activators such as Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or Potassium hydroxide (KOH) with Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) . Evolution of GPC, hydration process as opposed to OPC, mechanical properties, structural behavior, alkali-silica resistance (ASR), fire and acid resistance behavior of GPC have also been discussed in this paper.