International Journal of Civil Engineering

and Technology
(IJCIET),ENGINEERING
ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
INTERNATIONAL
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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
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ISSN 0976 6316(Online)
Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122
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IJCIET
IAEME

GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE, AN EARTH FRIENDLY CONCRETE, VERY

PROMISING IN THE INDUSTRY
T.V. Srinivas Murthy1,

Dr. Ajeet Kumar Rai2

Former PG student in structural Engineering, SRM University, Kancheepuram District

and Research Engineer, Auroville Centre for Scientific Research (CSR), Auroville 605101 India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SSET, SHIATS-DU, Allahabad (U.P) INDIA-211007

ABSTRACT
The major problem the world is facing today is the environmental pollution. In the
construction industry, mainly the production of Portland cement will cause the emission of
pollutants, results in environmental pollution. We can reduce the pollution effect on environment, by
increasing the usage of industrial by-products in our construction industry. Geo-polymer concrete is
such a one and in the present study, to produce the geo-polymer concrete, the Portland cement is
fully replaced with GGBS (Ground granulated blast furnace slag) and alkaline liquids are used for
the binding of materials. The alkaline liquids used in this study for the polymerization are the
solutions of Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na2Sio3). The cube specimens are taken
of size 150mm x 150mm x 150mm for compression test, the cylinder specimen size of 150 mm dia.,
300mm height for split tensile strength, 500mmx100mmx100mm prism are casted to test the
Flexural strength. The curing is carried in oven, curing at 65c. The geo-polymer concrete specimens
are tested, their compressive strength, split tensile strength and Flexural strength and the test results
are compared with conventional concrete. For this study M50 concrete mix was used for
experimental work.
Keywords: GGBS based Geopolymer Concrete, GGBS, Harden Concrete Properties of Geopolymer.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Concrete is conventionally produced by using the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) as the
primary binder. The amount of the carbon dioxide released during the manufacture of OPC due to
the calcination of limestone and combustion of fossil fuel is in the order of one ton for every ton of
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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
OPC produced. On the other side, the abundance and availability of fly ash, GGBS worldwide create
opportunity to utilise this by-product of burning coal, as partial replacement for OPC.
However, in the presence of water and in ambient temperature, fly ash reacts with the
calcium hydroxide during the hydration process of OPC to form the calcium silicate hydrate(C-S-H)
gel. This pozzolanic action happens when fly ash, GGBS is added to OPC as a partial replacement or
as an admixture. The development and application of high volume fly ash concrete, which enabled
the replacement of OPC up to 60-65% by mass (Malhotra 2002; Malhotra and Mehta 2002). In
another scheme, pozzolans such as blast furnace slag and fly ash may be activated using alkaline
liquids to form a binder and hence totally replace the use of OPC in concrete.
1.2 Objective
1. To study GGBS based Geopolymer Concrete (0% cement content) and Conventional Concrete
(100% cement)
2. With the hardened GGBS concrete, three properties such as the hardening concrete with GGBS
properties such as Compressive strength, Split tensile strength, Flexural strength and Durability
are found.
3. After evaluating the mechanical properties for the various mix designs, the results are
compared with the conventional concrete.
1.3 Scope of the Project
The production of Portland Cement is extremely resource and energy intensive process.
Several studies have been carried out to reduce the use of Portland cement in concrete to address the
global warming issues. These include the utilization of supplementary cementing materials such as
fly ash, silica fume, granulated blast furnace slag, rice-husk ash and metakaolin, and the development
of alternative binders to Portland cement. Geo-polymer concrete is new material that does not need
the presence of Portland cement as binder. Instead, the source of materials such as fly ash, that are
rich in silicon and aluminium are activated by alkaline liquids to produce the binder. Hence concrete
with no Portland cement. So, in this project report the details of GGBS based geopolymer material
properties, mix design and compare the harden concrete properties such as compressive strength,
split tensile strength, Flexural strength of concrete with conventional concrete.
1.4 Need for Present Work
Environmental pollution is the biggest menace to the human race on this planet today. It
means adding impurity to environment. It has a severe effect on the ecosystem. There are many
reasons which cause pollution. In our construction industry, cement is the main ingredient/material
for the concrete production. But the production of cement means the production of pollution because
of the emission of CO2 during its production.
In India about 2,069,738 thousands of metric tons of CO2 was emitted the year of 2010. The
cement industry contributes about 5% of total global carbon dioxide emissions. And also, the cement
is manufactured by using the raw materials such as limestone, clay and other minerals. On the other
side the demand of concrete is increasing day by day for its ease of preparing and fabricating in all
sorts of convenient shapes. So to overcome this problem, the concrete to be used should be
environmental friendly. To produce environmental friendly concrete, we have to replace the cement
with the industrial by products such as fly-ash, GGBS (Ground granulated blast furnace slag) etc.
1.5 Methodology
Mix grade M50 (1:1.38:3) was used. Cubes, cylinders and beams were cast by thoroughly
mixing GGBS, fine aggregate, coarse aggregates, water, admixture, Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium
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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
silicate in the mixer machine. Similarly, Mix grade M50 (1:1.38:3), with convention cement, fine
aggregates, coarse aggregates, water and admixture were thoroughly mixed in the mixture machine
and casted. Cement casted cubes, etc are cured for 28 days and GGBS are cured in 600 c oven for 2
days. Afterwards, these are tested for compression, split tensile, flexural and for durability.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Davidovits and Sawyer (1985), used ground blast furnace slag to produce geo-polymer
binders. This type of binders patented in the USA under the title Early High-Strength Mineral
Polymer, was used as a supplementary cementing material in the production of precast concrete
products. Later Davidovits in 1999, investigated for decades the resistance of concrete members to
high temperature. It is always desirable to have fire-proof structural members that can withstand heat
for a long time, hence allowing residents the chance to escape. While conventional concrete may
explode above 300 C, geo-polymer cements can be fire-resistant up to 1200C. In 2002, Xu & van
Deventer made geo-polymers from calcined source materials, such as metakaolin (calcined kaolin),
fly ash, slag etc., yield higher compressive strength when compared to those synthesised from noncalcined materials, such as kaolin clay. The source material used for geo-polymerisation can be a
single material or a combination of several types of materials.
Aside from the promising environmental benefits that geo-polymer binders present as found
by the early researchers, Hardjito & Rangan 2005, found the good mechanical and durability
features of geo-polymer cements and concretes make them interesting construction materials. Geopolymer concrete mixtures with 7th day compressive strength gives over 70 Mpa can be made
employing the conventional method used for the production of ordinary concrete. Regarding
durability features, geo-polymer concrete exhibits low drying shrinkage and shows good resistance
to acid and sulphate environments. In 2006 Chindaprasirt conducted the compression strength test
on GPC specimens prepared by using the NaOH of 10 M concentration. He concluded that the GPC
specimens prepared by using above concentration can achieve highstrength (70MPa) when cured in
oven at a temperature of 75C for two days.
Sanjay Kumar etal (2009) used Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGFS) to alter the
geo-polymerisation behavior of fly ash, the influence of varying amount of GBFS (5-50%). It was
observed that the reaction at 270c is dominated by the GBFS activation, where as the reaction at 600c
is due to combined interaction of fly ash and GBFS. Attempts were made to relate the microstructure
with the properties of the geo-polymers. It was in 2011 Peters toms Jonesetal worked on the
application of Ca-based geo-polymer with blast furnace slag. They found out that the differences that
occur in the chemical mechanism of alkali-activated slag and slag-based geo-polymer. They found
negative aspect of alkali-activation are essentially due to corrosive mixture condition coined user
hostile. Geo-polymer is mild and is user friendly. One distinguishes 3 types of Ca-based geopolymer, namely 1) MK 750/Slag-based used for toxic and radioactive waste management; 2) Rock
slag based for cement in building; 3) Fly ash/Slag based for geo-polymer concrete. They concluded
that these slag-based geo-polymer cements are user friendly, versatile and cost effective. They can
be mixed and hardened essentially like Portland cement and would revolutionalse infrastructure and
the building industry. It is interesting to note Tom Glasby etal Jan 2014 at Australia used geopolymer concrete for a wide range of precast and in=situ applications. Earth Friendly Concrete
(EFC) is a proprietary of geo-polymer concrete. It has mechanical, durability and other properties
indicate that EFC complies with the performance-based requirements which is in line with
international standards. The study results demonstrate a significant improvement over Portland
cement-based concrete in the important durability properties of acid resistance, sulfate resistance and
chloride-ion resistance.

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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
EFC appears ideal for precast manufacture. Accelerated curing can be achieved at lower
temperature than Portland cement concrete. Maximum efficiency is achieved by keeping EFC at an
internal concrete temperature of 380c.
3. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
3.1 Types of materials used for the experiment
Mix proportion used here is M50 concrete
1.
2.
3.
4.

GGBS
Coarse aggregate
Fine aggregate
Alkaline activator
a) NaOH
b) Na2SiO3
5. Admixture used Superplastisizer Conplast 421
6. Water
3.2 GGBS was bought from Bangalore
GGBS was tested at Chemical Testing and Analytical Laboratory, Department of Industries
and Commerce, Government of Tamilnadu, Industrial Estate, Guindy, CHENNAI-600032
Report of Analysis
Sample: GGBS
1

Insoluble residue

0.82%

Magnesia

0.70%

Sulphur as sulphide

1.16%

Sulphate as SO3

1.22%

Manganese

NIL

Chloride

NIL

Chemical modulus as CaO + MgO / SiO2

0.25

Chemical modulus as CaO / SiO2

0.24
Remarks:- The given sample confirms to BS: 6699-1992 (Specification for Ground granulated blast
furnace slag for use with Portland cement) with respect to above tests except to chemical modulus
CaO + MgO / SiO2.

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3.3 Composition of geo-polymer concrete shown in following table
SI NO

INGREDIENT

% Used in Experiment

GGBS

17 to 20

Coarse Aggregate

45 to 55

Fine Aggregate

20 to 25

Alkaline Activator

6 to 8

a) NaOH

1.5 to 2

b) Na2SiO3

4 to 6

Water

20 to 30 by weight of fly ash

Tests were performed to establish the effect of water-to-geopolymer solids ratio by mass on
the compressive strength and the workability of geopolymer concrete.
1. Higher concentration (in terms of molar) of sodium hydroxide solution results in higher
compressive strength of GGBS-based geopolymer concrete. Higher the ratio of sodium silicateto-sodium hydroxide ratio by mass, higher is the compressive strength of GGBS-based
geopolymer concrete.
2. As the curing temperature in the range of 30oC to 90oC increases, the compressive strength of
GGBS-based geopolymer concrete also increases
3. The addition of naphthalene sulphonate-based super plasticiser upto approximately 4% of
GGBS by mass, improves the workability of the fresh GGBS-based geopolymer concrete with
very little effect on the compressive strength of hardened concrete.
4. Geopolymer concrete also showed very high early strength. The compressive strength of
Geopolymer concrete is about 1.5 times more than that of the compressive strength with the
ordinary Portland cement concrete, for the same mix.
5. Similarly the Geopolymer Concrete showed good workability as of the ordinary Portland
Cement Concrete.
3.4

MIX DESIGN FOR GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE

Mass of combined aggregate

= 77% of mass concrete

1.
2.
3.
4.

=
=
=
=

20 mm coarse aggregate
14 mm coarse aggregate
7 mm coarse aggregate
Fine aggregate

15% of Mass of combined aggregate

20% of Mass of combined aggregate
35 % of Mass of combined aggregate
30 % of Mass of combined aggregate

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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
Ratio of sodium silicate solution to sodium hydroxide solution by mass = 2.5
Sodium silicate solution contains:
1.
2.
3.

Na2o = 14.7% of sodium silicate solution

Sio3 = 29.4 % of sodium silicate solution
H2o = 55.9 % of sodium silicate solution

Sodium hydroxide solution contains:

1.
2.

NaoH = 26% of Sodium hydroxide solution

H2o = 74 % of Sodium hydroxide solution

3.5 Mix Proportion for M50 is 1:1.38:3

SI

Material

Kg/m3

GGBS

408

Fine aggregate

554

Coarse aggregate
i)20mm

277

ii)14mm

370

iii)7mm

647

Super Plasticizer

Sodium Silicate solution Na2O

103

Sodium Hydroxide solution SiO3

41

Water

228

3.6 Casting concrete cubes, prism, cylinders

The geopolymer concrete are cured at 65c in oven for 24 hrs. After the cubes, cylinders,
prisms are taken out from oven, the following test are conducted.

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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Slump Test
The slump was found using Slump cone Test, for M50 Geo-polymer Concrete, it was
between 75mm to 100mm.
4.2 Compressive strength
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH (Mpa)

72
70
68
66
64

GEOPOLYMER
CONCRETE

62

CONVENTIONAL
CONCRETE

60
58
56
1 2 3 4 5 6
SPECIMEN

Average Compressive strength = 70.1Mpa

4.3 Split tensile strength
These tests were carried out in accordance with IS 516-1999 standards conducted on concrete
cylinders of 150 mm diameter and 300 mm length. The cylindrical specimen are placed horizontally
between the loading surfaces of a compression testing machine and the load is applied until failure of
the cylinder along the vertical diameter. The failure load is noted.
SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH (Mpa)

7
6
5
4
CONVENTIONA
L CONCRETE

3
2

GEOPOLYMER
CONCRETE

1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
SPECIMEN

4.4 Flexural Strength of Concrete

Determination of flexural strength is essential to estimate the loads at which concrete
members may crack. The specimens are then placed in the machine in such a manner that the load is
applied to the uppermost surface as cast in the mould, along two lines spaced 13.3 cm apart. The axis
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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
of the specimen was carefully aligned with the axis of the loading devise. The load was applied
without shock and increasing continuously. Then a is the distance between the line of fracture and
the nearer support. The line of fracture measured on the centre line of the tensile side of the
specimen.

FLEXURAL STRENGTH (Mpa)

Size of beam = 500x100x100mm

fcr = (Px)/(bxd2)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

CONVENTIONA
L CONCRETE
GEOPOLYMER
CONCRETE

1 2 3 4 5 6
SPECIMEN

4.5

DURABILITY TEST

Hydrochloric acid (HCL)

Chloride attack is particularly important because its primarily causes corrosion of
reinforcement. The BIS earlier specified the maximum chloride content in cement as 0.05%. But it
has been revised that the allowable chloride content in cement to be 0.1%.The cubes were cast at the
size of 150x150x150 mm and kept at a room temperature. After 24 hours the cubes were removed
from the mould and immersed in clean fresh water until 28 days after curing the cubes were
immersed in a 5% concentric Hydrochloric acid (HCL), after 14 days and 28 days of curing,
measurement of the weight and the compressive strength of cubes and calculation of durability
factors were completed.

Cubes are placed in Hydrochloric acid

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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME

After removing of cube from Hydrochloric acid

% OF WEIGHT LOSS

DURABILITY TEST
1.04
1.02
1
0.98
0.96
0.94
0.92
0.9
0.88

CONVENTIONAL
CONCRETE
GEOPOLYMER
CONCRETE

SPECIMEN

5. FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDS

As in the case of Portland Cement Concrete, the properties of constituent materials in the
Geopolymer concrete mixture will influence the physical properties of the hardened concrete. It is
therefore necessary to collect experimental data on the various properties and use the data to
formulate appropriate Codes of practice.
Future research should also focus on the fundamental science of Geopolymer to determine
the mechanism of chemical reaction during setting and hardening
Lot of work needs to be done in durability of Geopolymer concrete before it can be applied in
the industry.
6. CONCLUSION
1.

2.

The details of geopolymer material properties, mix design and the comparisons of the harden
concrete properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, Flexural strength of
concrete with conventional concrete are studied.
The test results show that the use of GGBS based geopolymer concrete increases in
compressive strength by 13.82% as compared with conventional concrete.
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ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 113-122 IAEME
3.
4.

The test results show that the use of GGBS based geopolymer concrete increases in Split
tensile strength by 18.23% as compared with conventional concrete.
The test results shows that the use of GGBS based geopolymer concrete increases in Flexural
strength by 30.19% as compared with conventional concrete.

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3.

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7.
8.
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