Effects of Seawater Content in Alkaline Activators to Engineering Properties of Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer Concrete

Abstract

This paper illustrates a special investigation on geopolymer concrete synthesized from fly ash, sand, coarse aggregates (solid phases) in conditions of sodium silicate solution and seawater (liquid phases). The mixtures of geopolymer concrete were designed with proportion changes of among materials to evaluate effects of the proportions to engineering properties of products. The specimens were molded into cylinder with 200 mm in length and 100 mm in diameter, and then cured at room condition (28 °C, 80 % of humidity) for testing engineering properties for 7 days, 28 days, 90 days, and 180 days. The engineering properties of geopolymer concrete samples included compressive strength (MPa), water absorption (kg/m3), and volumetric weight (kg/m3). The results showed that the fly ash-based geopolymer concrete using sodium silicate solution and seawater was very good performance with value of 180 day-compressive strength at 58 MPa, water absorption and volumetric weight were at 180 kg/m3 and 2200 kg/m3, respectively.