Effect of sodium carbonate/sodium silicate activator on the rheology, geopolymerization and strength of fly ash/slag geopolymer pastes

Reactions between the fly ash/slag composite mix and the Na2CO3/Na2SiO3 activator were monitored through Isothermal conduction calorimetry. The resulting products were analyzed with the help of XRF, XRD and FT-IR techniques. In calorimetric response, the composite pastes had more total heat release than the fly ash paste requiring ∼50% less activation energy to yield reaction products. These products were largely amorphous as observed in the XRD patterns. Rheological studies indicated that composite pastes were very stiff above 25 wt% slag addition as its yield stress was almost doubled to fly ash paste. The compressive strength of hardened pastes increased with increasing slag content and activator dosage and decreased with increasing water-binder ratio. The deposition of reaction products onto the fly ash/slag particle surfaces and also the dense microstructures as observed in FESEM supported higher strength of geopolymer pastes at higher activator and slag contents. The developed paste with standard sand at 1:2 ratio produced mortar with a compressive strength of ∼72 MPa.