Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE STRENGTH IN AGGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT

Othman I., Nasir Shafiq and Nuruddin M.F.

Abstract

The consumption of cement had caused pollution to the atmosphere. The cement industry is responsible for significant CO2 emissions because of its production. The carbon dioxide gas production is based from the process of burning large quantities of fuel and inherent to the basic process of calcinations of limestone. The process of making Portland Cement basically produce a large amount of CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) are generally not resistant to exposure of acid and sea water. In terms of strength, Portland cement has proved that it cannot stand in such high exposure during its service life span. The development of geopolymer concrete with a combination of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate, offers a promising alternative OPC. Therefore, this research aims to identify the strength performance of geopolymer concrete in aggressive environment. The specimens were exposed to 5% of sulphuric acid, sodium chloride and distilled water. The processing of geopolymer using fly ash and alkaline activator solution by different moles concentration of sodium hydroxide of 8M and 11M. The concrete samples were cured in oven for 7 days at 60 °C and immersed separately in sulphuric acid, sodium chloride and distilled water until 35 days. The compressive strength was examined on 7, 14, 21 and 35 days in term of durability and strength. Based on the result obtained, it can be concluded that specimens with 11M of NaOH concentration had a better compressive strength when exposed to aggressive environment. The regression data of strength and density showed a uniform polynomial line as the density increases, the compressive strength also increases.