The Investigation on Setting Time and Strength of High Calcium Fly Ash Based Geopolymer

Abstract

Fly ash based geopolymer normally gets the optimum strength by heat curing. This is considered as a hindrance to in-situ applications. Therefore, development of fly ash based geopolymer that suitable for ambient curing will widen the application to the concrete structure. This paper reports the results of an experimental study on setting time and development of compressive strength of class C fly ash based geopolymer paste produced in ambient curing condition. The main synthesis parameters such as water to the geopolymer solid ratio, alkali to cementitious ratio and molarity of NaOH were varied to understand their individual effect on setting time and the mechanical properties of the resulting geopolymer. The results suggested that generally the setting time increased with the NaOH molarity and the compressive strength of 59 MPa was obtained for geopolymer mixture cured at ambient temperature for 28 days with alkali to a cementitious ratio of 0.35 and 10 M NaOH. The results will be useful for developing the knowledge of the use of high calcium fly ash in producing geopolymer. This would be beneficial to the understanding the future applications of this material as new binding material.