Effects of fibres and curing temperature on geopolymer concrete

Reed, Mark Edward (2012) Effects of fibres and curing temperature on geopolymer concrete. [USQ Project]

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Abstract

The aim of this project is to develop fly ash based geopolymer concrete and study the effects of fibres and curing temperature on the compressive strength (and other values that define the behaviour of geopolymer concrete in compression). Testing involves compressive loading of 100 mm (diameter) by 200 mm (height) cylindrical samples on a compression testing machine (testing occurred over a period of at least 28 days). The results collected will be compared to other literature on geopolymer concrete and AS
3600 (Concrete Structures) to understand the significance of the values formulated in this report.

Geopolymer concrete is formed by an alkaline liquid that has the potential to react with the Aluminium and Silicon located in a source material of geological origin or in by-product materials such as fly ash and blast furnace slag to create binders. Polymerization occurs when the alkaline
liquid and the Aluminium and Silicon react with one another. A mixture of coarse and fine aggregates should comprise the aggregate skeleton used in geopolymer concrete.

Due to the variability of materials that can be used to create geopolymer concrete, it is difficult to create a geopolymer concrete standard. Research suggests that geopolymer concrete has very similar properties to OPC concrete. Some properties of geopolymer concrete have been found to exceed that of OPC concrete.

The relationship between concrete used for infrastructure and the use of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) sees an increased use of OPC concrete when the demand for more civil infrastructure projects increases. It is estimated cement production will increase from 1.5 billion tons to 2.2 billion tons by 2010. Research papers suggest that the production of 1 tonne of OPC cement produces 1 tonne
of CO2 into the Earth's atmosphere.

At present time there is a large focus on the environment and associated environmental impact of products and materials. The production of concrete is responsible for 4 % of man-made global warming. It has been reported in literature that geopolymer concrete produces less carbon
emissions.

The results formulated from this report indicate that the method of curing (ambient cured for 24 hours or oven cured for 3 hours) will affect the compressive strength development but will not affect the ultimate compressive strength of geopolymer concrete. Polypropylene fibres increase the compressive strength, ductility and strain at peak stress of geopolymer concrete. An optimum amount
of PP fibres exists as the Batch with 0.05% PP fibres added significantly outperformed the batch with 0.15% PP fibres added.


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Item Type: USQ Project
Item Status: Live Archive
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: Historic - Faculty of Engineering and Surveying - Department of Agricultural, Civil and Environmental Engineering (Up to 30 Jun 2013)
Supervisors: Lokuge, Weena; Karunasena, Karu
Date Deposited: 22 Jan 2014 02:07
Last Modified: 22 Jan 2014 02:07
Uncontrolled Keywords: geopolymer; concrete; fibres; curing temperature;
Fields of Research (2008): 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090506 Structural Engineering
09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090503 Construction Materials
Fields of Research (2020): 40 ENGINEERING > 4005 Civil engineering > 400510 Structural engineering
40 ENGINEERING > 4005 Civil engineering > 400505 Construction materials
URI: https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/23904

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