BLENDED METAKAOLIN AND WASTE CLAY BRICK POWDER AS SOURCE MATERIAL IN SUSTAINABLE GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE

Abstract

Recently, sustainability and ecological related problems have attracted more attention around the world. The construction sector incorporates directly and indirectly in global warming, natural resources depletion, and environmental pollution. This study aims, firstly; to identify the optimum mix of metakaolin (MK) geopolymer concrete required to achieve high compressive strength with respect to the concentration of the alkaline solution and curing system. Secondly, to reduce the impact of brick waste on the environment, by producing geopolymer concrete based on blended MK and waste clay brick powder (WBP). The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of MK-based geopolymer concrete specimens were studied. Different contents of waste clay brick powder (WBP) (0%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) as a replacement by weight of (MK) were investigated. The results appear that it is possible to produce MK-based geopolymer concrete with a compressive strength of 44.03 MPa, while it was 34.76 MPa at 28 days for specimens with 15% WBP replacement of main source binder. Finally, it could be concluded that green moderate strength geopolymer concrete can be produced and used in different civil engineering applications.