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The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008 D.

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DURABILITY STUDY OF LOW CALCIUM FLY ASH GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE


R.Sathia- PhD Scholar, K. Ganesh BabuProfessor, Manu Santhanam- Assistant Professor

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

ABSTRACT:

The objective of the present work is to find the durability of the fly ash based Geopolymer prepared with sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide as activators. The concretes were prepared with varying fly ash content of 350, 450 & 550 Kg/m3 and activator solution to fly ash ratio of 0.4 and 0.5. Compressive strength in the range of 10-60 MPa was obtained. The performance of these concretes in aggressive environments was also studied, using tests on absorption, acid resistance and potential. Results indicated that the water absorption decreased with an increase in the strength of the concrete and the fly ash content. All geopolymer concretes showed excellent resistance to acid attack (3% H2SO4) compared to the normal concrete. alkali activated fly ash, permeability, mechanical properties

KEYWORDS: Geopolymer,

1. INTRODUCTION Geopolymer [1] is a new material which is being used for construction all over the world. As a new material for construction not much of information is available on the durability of geopolymer concrete. The durability of concrete is an important requirement for the performance of the structure in aggressive environments throughout its design life period. The durability of concrete primarily depends upon its permeability characteristics. Impermeable concretes can resist the ingress of aggressive ions into the concrete and there by reduce the damages occurring due to the deterioration of concrete and the corrosion of steel in concrete. However, there appears to be no comprehensive information of the permeability characteristics and deterioration characteristics of geopolymer concretes Moreover, for such a comprehensive understanding it is also essential that these concretes should be well designed at any particular strength. 2. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTS 2.1. Material characterization The physical properties and chemical composition as determined by XRF is shown in Table1. For the preparation of geopolymer concrete locally available river sand with a specific gravity of 2.62 was used as fine aggregate. Fly ash itself is a slowly reactive material and has a very strong silica alumina glassy chain. In order to enhance the reaction process the strong chain has to be broken; hence, the alkali activators are used to enhance the reaction process. The OH concentration of the activators is an important constituent which is primarily necessary for the disintegration of the strong silica alumina glassy chain. Higher the OH concentration of the activators, more rapid is the disintegration of the chain, resulting in the production of large number of active groups [4]. 1153

The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008 The choice of the activators mainly depends upon the reactivity and the cost of the activators [8]. Literature indicates that sodium silicate solution in combination with sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide is an effective activator. Compared to potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide is cheaper and equally reactive. The chemical composition of activators used in this study is shown in Table 2. Sodium hydroxide solution of 16M was prepared by mixing the pellets with distilled water. The percentage of solids and liquids in the NaOH solution is tabulated in Table 2. In order to improve the workability, a high range water reducing admixture (SNP based) was used. Table1. Chemical composition of fly ash Oxides SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO % by 61.16 30.08 4.62 1.75 mass Na2O MgO K2O 0.76 0.18 0.36 SO3 0.19 LOI 0.60

Table 2. Composition of Activator solutions SiO2 Sodium silicate Sodium Hydroxide 28% Molarity 16M Na2O 8% Solids % 44.4 SiO2/ Na2O 3.5 Liquids % 55.6 Specific gravity 1.48 g/cm3 Specific gravity 1.34 g/cm3

2.2. Manufacture of geopolymer concrete 2.2.1 Mix proportioning All geopolymer concrete were made with low calcium fly ash, with SiO2 to Al2O3 ratio of 2.5. All the concretes were designed similar to normal concrete, such that the density was approximately equal to 2400 kg/m3 [2]. The total aggregate of the geopolymer concrete varied depending upon the amount of fly ash and activator solution used. The total aggregate content normally occupies about 60 80 % of the mass of the concrete. The sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide ratio was fixed as 1.5 and the concentration of NaOH was taken as 16M. Extra water was added to certain mixes depending upon the workability of the mix required. High range water reducing naphthalene based superplasticizer at 2.5 % by mass of fly ash was added in order to improve the workability. The mixture proportions are shown in Table 3. 2.2.2 Mixing, curing and casting of geopolymer concrete The activator solutions were prepared one day before use. Fly ash and the aggregates were dry mixed in an 80 liter capacity pan mixer for 4 minutes. This was followed by the addition of the activator solutions, extra water and superplasticizer followed by a final mixing of another 5 min. Right after mixing, the slump of the fresh geopolymer concrete was determined in accordance with ASTM C173. After the determination of slump, the fresh concrete was placed in the mould. The specimens were compacted with three layer placing and tamping using a rod. This was followed by an additional vibration of 10seconds using a vibrating table. The specimens were then wrapped with thin vinyl sheet to avoid loss of water due to evaporation. All the concrete specimens were then transferred to an oven set at a 1154

The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008 temperature of 85C, and stored for 24hours.After curing; the specimens were allowed to cool in air, demoulded and kept in open until the day of testing. Table 3. Details of concrete mixes
Concrete NC20 GC1 GC2 GC3 NC40 GC4 GC5 GC6 NC60 GC7 GC8 fly ash Kg/m3 C=240 550 450 350 C=356 550 450 350 C=428 550 450 Total solution Extra water 275 180 140 220 180 175 220 225 150 7.5 26.5 11.2 185 16.5 17.3 11.2 185 7.5 0 w/s 0.77 0.26 0.26 0.24 0.52 0.24 0.24 0.28 0.38 0.22 0.25 Na2O:SiO2 H2O:Na2O 0.14 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.14 0.12 0.14 11.61 13.44 12.30 12.22 12.57 12.24 11.52 11.14 Compressive strength ( Mpa) 25 24 27 24 47 44 47 41 62 60 65

Note : NC = normal concrete , C = Cement and GC = Geopolymer concrete 2.3 Mechanical properties 2.3.1 Compressive strength Compressive strength tests were performed at the age of 3, 7 and 28 days in accordance with IS: 516-1959. The reported strengths in Table 3 are the average of three tests. It can be seen from the results that the compressive strength increases with an increase in the fly ash content and the amount of the activator solution. Increase in the activator solution showed increase in the strength, this is due to the increase in the Na2O content of the solution, which is mainly required for geopolymerization. It is noted that the in case of geopolymer concrete, 90% of the final compressive strength is reached within 7 days and there is not much variation in compressive strength after 7 days. 2.4 Effect of water content Similar to Portland cement concrete the water content in the mix plays an important role in the strength achievement of geopolymer concrete. The reaction occurring in the case of geopolymer concrete is different from that of Portland cement concrete [8]. In case of geopolymer concrete, water is required to improve workability, but is expelled during curing at elevated temperature, increasing the porosity of concrete. It can be inferred from the results that as the H2O to Na2O ratio of the mix increases, the compressive strength decreases. This is due to increase in the porosity of the concrete due to the evaporation of water during curing at elevated temperature. It was found that the H2O to Na2O ratio of 10-14 proposed by the author [9] could be used only for the concrete designed with a fly ash content of 408 Kg/m3 and these ratios were changing, on variation of fly ash content. 3. DURABILITY OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE The durability of concrete has been evaluated in this study through parameters related to the permeability, chemical attack and corrosion potential of steel reinforcement. The permeability has been assessed through measurements of water absorption. The chemical attack has been 1155

The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008 studied through the acid attack; the corrosion potential of reinforcement has been studied using potentials. 3.1 Absorption studies This study was done to know the relative porosity or permeability characteristics of the concretes, and was carried out according to ASTM C 642-82 at 28 days. The specimens used for this test were 100 mm cubes. The percentage absorption was calculated using the equation (2) Absorption (%) = (w2 w1)/ w1 x100 (2) Where w1 = weight of specimen after complete drying at 105C w2 = final weight of surface dry sample after immersion in water at least 24 hours The results of this study for all the concretes are presented in Fig.1. Fig 2 presents a typical variation of absorption with time for the GC2 (20 MPa) concrete. The initial absorption values (at 30 min) for all the concretes were compared with recommendations given by Concrete Society (CEB) [10], and this comparison is presented in Table 4. From these results, it can be seen that absorption values of the geopolymer concretes at all strength levels were lower than the limit of 3% specified for good concretes. The final absorption results of these mixes shows that the geopolymer concretes were having lower absorption rate compared to normal concretes, and also decreasing with increasing strength. Table 4 Assessment criteria for absorption (CEB 1989)

Absorption (%) at 30 minutes < 3.0 3.0 to 5.0 > 5.0


5

Absorption rating low average high


6

Concrete quality good average poor

Absorption (%)

A bsorption (% )

G2
3

1
0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

20MPa

60MPa

Time (hrs)

Fig.1 Variation in water absorption

Fig.2 Variation of absorption with time (20 MPa concrete)

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The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008 3.2 Acid attack studies To perform the acid attack studies, in the present investigation immersion techniques was adopted. After 28 of casting days, 100mm cube specimens were immersed in 3% H2SO4 solution. The solution was kept at room temperature and the solution was stirred regularly, at least twice a day to maintain uniformity. The solution was replaced at regular intervals to maintain concentration of solution throughout the test period. The evaluations were conducted after 5,15,30,60 and 90 days from the date of immersion. After removing the specimens from the solution, the surfaces were cleaned with a soft nylon wire brush under the running tap water to remove weak products and loose material from the surface. Then the specimens were allowed to surface dry and all the measurements were taken. From the initial measurement and measurements at particular intervals, the loss/ gain of the weight were studied. All the geopolymer concrete were showing percentage of mass loss less than 0.5 % (see Table 5). The percentage of mass loss for geopolymer concrete was only a fraction compared to the normal concrete of equal strength grades. Hence geopolymer concrete showed an excellent resistance to acid attack. Table 5 Change in mass of concrete exposed to sulphuric acid solution (3%) Concrete NC20 G2 NC40 G8 NC60 G9 Weight loss % (90 days) 25 0.5 18 0.47 22 0.4

3.3 Open circuit potential (OCP) measurements Corrosion potential is a technique used to detect the state of reinforcement without disturbing the structure [10]. This is important because the intensity of corrosion of steel in concrete is generally known only after the concrete has cracked or disrupted. At this stage, the maintenance or rehabilitation of structures becomes very expensive. Therefore, it is essential to know the state of reinforcement whether it is in active or passive condition well before the spalling or cracking of concrete occurs. The open circuit potential of steel in different concretes was measured by using a saturated calomel (i.e., mercury in saturated mercuric chloride) electrode (SCE). The procedure given in ASTM C 876 was followed. The potentials obtained are presented in Fig 3, where, we can see that the geopolymer concretes exhibited low potentials compared to the other concretes. The potentials vary from -35 mV to -300 mV, which shows probable corrosion indications. Generally to after 3 years only we will get stable potentials, so, the half-cell potentials may or may not be indicators of corrosion current (ASTM C 876) and, therefore, cannot be taken as absolute indicators of corrosion reactions.

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The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008


500

90 day potential (SCE, -mV)

400

300

200

100

Fig.3 Potentials of embedded steel 4. CONCLUSIONS The salient conclusions of this study can be listed as following 1. Compressive strength increases with increase in the fly ash content and increase in the activator solution. This is due to the increase in the sodium oxide content which is mainly required for the geopolymerization reaction. 2. Similar to normal concrete the split tensile strength of geopolymer concrete were varying from 7to 11% of compressive strength which is in good agreement with the earlier information [9] 3. The absorption characteristics, which indirectly reflects the permeability, show that the initial 30 minutes absorption values for all the concretes was lower than the limits specified for good concrete by Concrete society 4. The deterioration of geopolymer concrete assessed in 3% H2SO4 solution shows that there is no significant variation in weight loss with increasing fly ash content. All the concrete showed weight loss of less that 0.5 % at 90 days. 5. The potentials taken with SCE were reducing with time to indicate a lower probability of corrosion. At 90 days, the potentials of steel in geopolymer concretes were tending to lower a probability of corrosion and were also decreasing with increasing strength It can thus be concluded that geopolymer concrete possesses excellent mechanical properties and durability for aggressive environments.

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The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008 REFERENCES 1. Davidovits, J., (1988), Soft mineralogy and Geopolymers. Paper presented at the Geopolymer 88, First European conference on soft Mineralogy, Compiegne, france.(1) 2. Rangan, B.V., and Hardjto, D. (2005), Development and properties of low calcium fly ash based geopolymer concrete. Research report GC-1, Faculty of Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. 3. Bakharev, T. (2005), Geopolymeric materials prepared using class Fly ash and elevated temperature curing, Cement and Concrete Research, Vol.35, 1224-1232 4. Rangan, B.V., and Wallah, S.E. (2006), Low- calcium fly ash based geopolymer concrete: long term properties. Research report GC-2, Faculty of Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia 5. Fernandez Jimenez, A., and Palomo, A. (2006), Engineering properties of alkali activated fly ash concrete. ACI material journal, Vol.106, 106-112. 6. Swanepoel, J.C., and Strydom, C.A, (2002), Utilization of fly ash in a geopolymeric material, Applied Geochemistry, Vol.17, 1143-1148 7. Jo, B.W., Park, S.-K and Park, M.-S. (2007). Strength and hardening characteristics of activated fly ash mortars, Magazine of concrete research, Vol.39, 121-129. 8. Dinakar , P., and Ganesh Babu, K.(2004) High performance self compacting concrete- A critical assessment, Proceedings of the International conference of fibre composities, High performance concretes and smart materials, Vol II, 747-756, Chennai, India. 9. Neville A. M. (1995) Properties of concrete, 4th Ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 10. CEB FIP (1989) Diagnosis and assessment of concrete structures state of artreport,CEB Bulletin, 83-85. 10. Broomfield J. P. (1997) Corrosion of steel in concrete: understanding, investigation and repair, E & FN SPON, London

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