Development of ultra-high-performance geopolymer concrete

Abstract

This paper presents the development of ambient temperature cured ultra-high-performance geopolymer concrete (UHPGPC). Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) mixtures were developed by completely eliminating Portland cement and activating industrial by-product materials such as ground granulated blastfurnace slag and silica fume. Local standard sand (maximum size 2 mm), quartz sand (600 μm) and 0·16 mm diameter steel fibres of 13 and 6 mm length were used. Fresh properties (density and flowability) and mechanical properties (compressive strength) of the UHPGPC produced under ambient temperature curing conditions were evaluated. Four mixtures with fibres and one mix without fibre addition were studied as the UHPGPC mixtures. The highest average compressive strengths obtained were 175 MPa for UHPGPC with steel fibres (1% 6 mm and 2% 13 mm) and 124 MPa for UHPGPC without fibres. Prismatic specimens (100 × 100 × 500 mm) were cast to determine the flexural strength, which was found to be 10·3–13·5 MPa and 9·1 MPa for mixes with and without steel fibres respectively. The compressive and flexural strengths obtained in this work are comparable to UHPC strengths presented in the literature. Production of this innovative material with industrial by-products and without the conventional curing regimes used for UHPC will improve sustainability and lead to cast-in-situ applications of UHPC.